Alma W. Thomas, born in 1891, grew up in rural Georgia. To escape racist violence in that state, her family moved to Washington, D.C., where she attended high school and then went on to receive a degree in fine arts from Howard University. Thomas became a teacher, and for 35 years taught art at the Shaw Junior High School; it was a long gestation period. When Thomas retired from teaching, in 1960, her career as an artist began. She was an abstract painter who focused on color, and her art was mature from the start. In 1972, a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum brought Thomas renown. “Through color,” she said, ​”I have sought to concentrate on beauty and happiness, rather than on man’s inhumanity to man.” This exhibition, which draws from the museum’s holdings, looks at Thomas’s entire career. —Elena Clavarino