Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music

Alma Thomas, Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music, 1976, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.2A-C
Alma Thomas, Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music, 1976, acrylic on canvas, 73 34 × 158 12 × 2 12 in. (187.3 × 402.6 × 6.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.2A-C

Artwork Details

Title
Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music
Artist
Date
1976
Dimensions
73 34 × 158 12 × 2 12 in. (187.3 × 402.6 × 6.4 cm)
Credit Line
Bequest of the artist
Mediums
Mediums Description
acrylic on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Abstract
Object Number
1980.36.2A-C

Artwork Description

Do you see that painting? Look at it move. That's energy and I'm the one who put it there. . . .  I transform energy with these old limbs of mine.
--Alma Thomas

This is the largest painting of Alma Thomas's career, created for what would be the last solo exhibition of her lifetime. Thomas painted it on three separate canvases, a format that enabled the artist to achieve ambitious scale despite her declining health and the modest size of her kitchen studio.

As the painting's title suggests, Thomas often listened to music as she worked. Here, bright red forms shimmy across the canvas as if animated by the rhythm of rock and roll.

Works by this artist (6 items)

Barbara Carrasco, Messages to the Public: Pesticides! (Presented by Public Art Fund, July 1, 1989-July 31, 1989 on Times Square Spectacolor board, New York City), 1989, analog video transferred to digital video; 00:48 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2020.31, © 1989, Barbara Carrasco
Messages to the Public: Pesticides! (Presented by Public…
Date1989
analog video transferred to digital video; 00:48 minutes
Not on view
Barbara Carrasco, Dolores, 1999, screenprint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Frank K. Ribelin Endowment, 2020.22.7, © 1999, Barbara Carrasco
Dolores
Date1999
screenprint on paper
Not on view
Barbara Carrasco, Antonia, 2005, screenprint on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Drs. Harriett and Ricardo Romo, 2019.50.1
Antonia
Date2005
screenprint on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

My Body Sees You
Date1992
single-channel video, color sound; 05:58 minutes
Not on view
Head of a Misanthropic Man
Date1976-1978
analog video transferred to digital video, color, silent; looped
Not on view
Charlemagne Palestine, Running Outburst, 1975, 5:56 minutes, black & white, sound, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company, 2008.21.6, © 1975, Charlemagne Palestine. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix, NY
Running Outburst
Date1975
5:56 minutes, black & white, sound
Not on view
Bill Viola, Silent Life from The Reflecting Pool- Collected Work 1977-80, 1979, 13:14 minutes, color, sound, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Ford Motor Company, 2008.21.16.3, © 1979 Bill Viola. Courtesy Electronic Arts Intermix, NY
Silent Life from The Reflecting Pool- Collected Work 1977 – 80
Date1979
13:14 minutes, color, sound
Not on view