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Alma Thomas's Painting Tools

Anacostia Community Museum

This media is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
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Object Details

Caption

This collection of paintbrushes and painting tools used by Alma Thomas includes a reed pen, palette and painting knives for mixing and applying paint, and natural bristle brushes. The paint splotches caked on the handles evidences their heavy use. Thomas sought inspiration from the city of Washington in her work, and was known to frequent the National Arboretum and the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials. These painting tools helped Thomas transform her impressions of the world around her into the colorful, fragmented abstract works of art for which she is best known.
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Esta colección de pinceles y utensilios utilizados por Alma Thomas incluye una pluma de caña, espátulas para mezclar y aplicar pintura y pinceles de cerda natural. Las manchas de pintura que cubren los mangos evidencian su uso intensivo. Thomas buscaba inspiración para sus obras en la ciudad de Washington, y era conocida por frecuentar el Arboretum Nacional y los monumentos a Jefferson y Lincoln. Estos utensilios de pintura ayudaron a Thomas a transformar su percepción del mundo que la rodeaba en las coloridas y fragmentadas obras de arte abstracto por las que es más conocida.

Date

mid 20th Century

Accession Number

2014.0032.0001

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

artist kit

Medium

metal, bamboo, paint, wood

Dimensions

Reed pen: 8 1/16 × 13/16 × 3/8 in. (20.5 × 2 × 1 cm)
Palette knife lanceolate : 9 1/8 × 13/16 × 3/8 in. (23.1 × 2.1 × 1 cm)
Palette knife oblong : 8 13/16 × 7/8 × 9/16 in. (22.4 × 2.2 × 1.5 cm)
Palette knife multi angle: 8 1/2 × 1 1/16 × 3/8 in. (21.6 × 2.7 × 1 cm)
Thin brush: 11 5/8 × 1/2 × 3/16 in. (29.5 × 1.3 × 0.5 cm)
Thick brush: 12 1/16 × 1 1/4 × 1/2 in. (30.7 × 3.1 × 1.2 cm)
Long brush: 13 9/16 × 7/8 × 1/2 in. (34.4 × 2.3 × 1.3 cm)

See more items in

Anacostia Community Museum Collection

Data Source

Anacostia Community Museum

Metadata Usage

CC0

Link to Original Record

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl846e86157-c55a-4d87-b352-cb2d9df6f035

Record ID

acm_2014.0032.0001

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