Alma Thomas and Expressionism

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Subject Areas Arts
Themes Color, Line & Shape Narrative & Storytelling
Lesson Plan Series Everything is Beautiful

Prism.K12 Strategies Identify Express Synthesize
Grade Levels 8, 9, 10

Materials

Copies of:
Print or digital version of Thomas’s In the Studio
Post-it notes (10 per student)
Chart paper
Paper
Paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils, watercolor
Water
Cups
Pencils

Lesson Overview

Alma Thomas was a Black artist and teacher from Washington, DC. Thomas was a complex artist, drawing from many overlapping creative spaces in her life: interior design, puppetry, theatrical performance, and the fine arts. Regardless of the creative space she took up at any given time, Thomas strove for one thing: the search for beauty. And she found it in nature, human ingenuity, and the world around her. In this lesson students will:

Explore some of the characteristics of expressionist art
Understand Alma Thomas’s contributions to expressionist art
Create their own expressionist art

To expand your students’ knowledge of other types of artistic styles Alma Thomas used, have your students try out the lesson From Representational to Abstract: The Art of Alma Thomas.

Part 1: A Close Look at the Art of Alma Thomas

IDENTIFY:

Have students look at Alma Thomas’s painting In the Studio. Don’t give them any background information for now; just show them the painting.
Nouns and Adjectives
- Provide each student with 10 post-it notes. On 5 of the notes, they should write 10 nouns to describe the painting, and 5 adjectives on the other 5 notes.
- In groups or as a whole class, place the notes on a Board or wall in the classroom. Have students work together to group words that are similar together.
- Ask students:
  - Where do we see commonalities in the nouns and adjectives that we came up with for this painting?
  - Where do we see differences in the nouns and adjectives that we came up with for this painting?
  - What did you feel when looking at this painting?
Share with students that today they will learn about Alma Thomas, a Black artist and teacher from Washington, DC. Specifically, they will learn more about her work as an expressionist artist.

Part 2: What is Expressionism?

Explore:

Have students complete the Expressionism Art Detective Worksheet.
As a whole class, discuss the responses to the questions, specifically the following question:
- What do you think might be some characteristics of expressionist art based on what you studied in the paintings?
Jot student responses on chart paper. You’ll refer back to this later on in the lesson.

A Deeper Dive:

Have students watch this short video about Expressionism. As they’re watching, they should answer the questions on the What is Expressionism? guide.
- SYNTHESIZE: Teachers should address a few points in the video before/after watching:
  - The cartoon opens with Pollock smoking a cigarette. Smoking was common during the 1950s, but we know today that smoking causes significant long-term health issues.
  - This video has a specific definition of art. In the What is Expressionism? Guide, each student will have the opportunity to think about whether or not they agree with the definition and explain why.
  - This video does not discuss the contributions of women to the Expressionist movement. You can share this exhibition and video to give students more context as to why women are frequently not included in mainstream understandings of Abstract Expressionists and why this is problematic.
    - Ask students if they can think of other examples today or in history when women are left out of mainstream understandings, even when they made significant contributions?
    - Note: You may need to define mainstream—the perceived dominant trends, ideas, and attitudes.
Have students share responses to the questions on the What is Expressionism? guide as a part of a whole class discussion.
- Ask students how this video contributed to, changed, or supported the characteristics of expressionist art that they identified earlier (refer back to the responses written on the chart paper).
In partners, students will look more closely at Alma Thomas’s abstract art by studying the artwork on the Alma Thomas’s Expressionist Art Guide and answering the questions.
As a whole class, discuss responses to the questions on Alma Thomas’s Expressionist Art guide. In addition, discuss:
- How does Alma Thomas’s work contribute to your understanding of expressionist art?
- What makes her art unique?

Part 3: Paint Like an Expressionist

EXPRESS:

Have students write down 5 emotions they have felt today on pieces of paper. Have them fold the papers in half and then pick one at random.
After choosing an emotion, students should consider:
- What colors will best express that emotion?
- What kinds of lines best express that emotion?
- How do you want to move your brush (or marker, or crayon) across the paper to express that emotion?
- What risks do you want to take?
Have students express themselves!

SYNTHESIZE:

Create a gallery walk.
As each student looks at each artwork, have them write one noun or adjective that they feel captures the piece and place it in front of the artwork.
Once the gallery walk is complete, have the artist choose the one noun and the one adjective that they feel best captures what they tried to convey. That will become the title of their artwork!

Visual Context

Here are some artwork and images to further contextualize the content of the lesson. You can incorporate the images into your lessons or use them to build your own background knowledge.

Please note: Images are available to download only for personal, noncommercial use. For any questions about image rights and reproductions, please contact imagerights@phillipscollection.org.

Abstract painting in vertical orientation with a pink background of mosaic pattern. Three wise men in a mosaic pattern. The wise man on the left is red and blends in with the middle wise man who is orange, yellow, green. The middle wise man blends in with the final wise man who is blue and dark red. — Alma Thomas, *Three Wise Men*, 1966

Abstract painting in horizontal orientation. Large black figures with draping colors of green and red that float at the top of the painting — Alma Thomas, *They Laid Him in the Tomb*, 1958

Expressionist painting in vertical orientation of an artist studio. There is a dark brown easel with paint and rags thrown over the base of the easel. — Alma Thomas, *In the Studio*, 1956

Additional Context

Lesson Context

Thomas is often associated with the Washington Color School, a 1950s-1970s art movement in response to Abstract Expressionism; the artists used bold colors to form simple, flat shapes, stripes, and fields of color, rather than focusing on emotion, gesture, and movement. Thomas differed from many other Washington Color School artists, whose works did not reference any objects from real life; instead, her works combined the bold colors and shapes from the Washington Color School with the emotion and dynamism of the Abstract Expressionists.

Key Terms

Expressionism: Expressionism was an artistic movement that emerged in the early 1900s in Germany. This movement pushed forward the idea that art could be an expression of the artist’s internal or emotional state, rather than a representation of the real world.

Representational art: Artwork that clearly depicts real objects. The artist represents something that is real and the audience is able to easily recognize the objects or figures in the artwork.

Washington Color School: A 1950s-1970s art movement in response to Abstract Expressionism; the artists used bold colors to form simple, flat shapes, stripes, and fields of color, rather than focusing on emotion, gesture, and movement.