Alma Thomas Paintings Hang in White House A painting by Alma Thomas will be hung in the White House during the Obama administration! Sky Light, 1973 (left), and Watusi (Hard Edge), 1963 (right), by Alma Thomas, Gift of Vincent Melzac/Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The White House released the list of paintings that the Obamas have borrowed from various Washington museums for their presidential home last week. Of the new modern and abstract artworks adorning their walls are two paintings (above) by Alma Thomas, a longtime Washington resident. Swann Galleries recently sold Untitled (Concentric Circles) (below), acrylic over pencil on wove paper, circa 1970, for $8,400 in our auction of African-American Fine Art last week. To read more about Thomas’s illustrious career and the Obamas’ painting selections, read Holland Cotter’s article “White House Art: Colors From a World of Black and White” on the New York Times website. Untitled (Concentric Circles), circa 1970, by Alma Thomas According to The New York Times, “Asked once by an interviewer if she saw herself as a black artist, Ms. Thomas replied: “No, I do not. I am an American.” But the tradition she participated in overrode national borders. She was a euphoric Modernist, a believer in the infinite possibilities of human progress.” Share Facebook Twitter October 14, 2009Author: Swann CommunicationsCategory: African American Art Tags: abstract painting African-American Fine Art Alma Thomas Barack Obama White House Previous A Brilliant Lot: Letter Signed by Thomas Edison Next Lewis W. Hine, America’s First Photojournalist Recommended Posts Artists Reclaiming the Queer Black Male Form African American Art August 7, 2020 2018: Year in Review Swann December 21, 2018 Nigel Freeman on the Legacy of David C. Driskell, 1931-2020 African American Art April 2, 2020