Her Canvas

Women artists · across history & the world

Distant View of Niagara Falls, 1830, by Alma Thomas. Oil on wood panel. From the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

United States · 1891–1978

Alma Thomas

Painter of rhythmic mosaics of colour inspired by gardens and the space race.

  • Vibrant
  • Serene
  • Abstract Geometrics

Fun fact

She taught junior high art for 35 years and only began painting full-time after retiring at 69.

How she made it

Acrylic dabbed on in short, irregular tesserae of colour, arranged in columns or concentric bands with slivers of white canvas breathing between them, mosaic rhythm made with a loaded flat brush.

Work
Distant View of Niagara Falls, 1830
Medium
Oil on wood panel
Collection
Arts of the Americas, Art Institute of Chicago
View this work

More by Alma Thomas

Featured artists