
Artwork Details
- Title
- Red Abstraction
- Artist
- Date
- 1959
- Location
- Dimensions
- 40 x 27 3⁄4 in. (101.6 x 70.5 cm)
- Markings
- lower right in oil: A/Thomas/'59 back upper right in felt-tipped pen and ink: A-T 30 stretcher upper center to upper right in felt-tipped pen and ink: 1959 RED ABSTRACTION
- Credit Line
- Gift of the artist
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- oil on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
- Nonrepresentational
- Abstract
- Object Number
- 1978.40.2
Artwork Description
Alma Thomas was inspired by the garden outside her window and painted images that suggest light flickering through leaves and petals. She used dabs and strokes of paint to express the "new colors through the windowpanes" that appeared every time the plants moved in the wind (Alma Thomas: Phantasmagoria, Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, 2001). Here, the reds, browns, and greens create a warm, heavy mass in the center of the image, which contrasts with the paler shades around the edges. The earthy tones evoke the changing of the leaves during fall, when treetops appear to burst with vibrant color.