fbpx Chrysler Logo
Search
Search
Moses Myers House

323 E. Freemason St.
Open Saturday and Sunday

Noon–5 p.m.

Jean Outland Chrysler Library

Reading Room
Wednesday-Friday
10 a.m.–5 p.m.

About the Myers House

The oldest Jewish home in America open to the public as a museum offers a glimpse of the life of an early 19th century merchant family.
More about the house

About the Library

With an extensive collection of more than 106,000 rare and unique volumes relating to the history of art, the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library is one of the most significant art libraries in the South. More about the library

Located in Norfolk

One Memorial Place,
Norfolk, VA
Get Directions

While You're Here

Visit our Museum Shop
and Zinnia Cafe.

Perry Glass Studio

A state-of-art facility on the Museum’s campus. See a free glassmaking demo Tuesdays–Sunday at noon. Like what you see? Take a class with us! More about the Studio

The Myers House

The home of the first permanent Jewish residents of Norfolk, this historic house offers a glimpse of the life of a wealthy early 19th-century merchant family.
More about the house

Jean Outland Chrysler Library

With an extensive collection of more than 106,000 rare and unique volumes relating to the history of art, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library is one of the most significant art libraries in the South. More about the Library

Wedding & Event Rentals

The perfect place for your big day or special event. Get the details

In-person Tours

Group tours are available for groups of 20 or fewer. More about tours

Jean Outland Chrysler Library

Visit one of the most significant art libraries in the South. More about the library

About the Chrysler

Our story spans well over 100 years. See where we began, how we grew, and where we're going. Explore our history

News and Announcements

See what's happening at the Museum, read Chrysler Magazine, and find our Media Center. Read now

Location

One Memorial Place
Norfolk, VA 23510

Location

745 Duke Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
757-333-6299

Always Free Parking

Get Directions

Visiting Artist Series

Bringing the world’s top glass art talent to Hampton Roads
Find out more

Studio Team

Meet the brilliant minds behind the Studio.
See the team

Give the Chrysler Experience

Share everything you love about the Chrysler Museum with a gift membership. Perfect for everyone on your list.

The Masterpiece Society

Learn about this innovative group of museum supporters.
Meet the Masterpiece Society

Planned Giving

Help ensure the long-term success of the Museum.
Learn about planned giving

Moses Myers House

323 E. Freemason St.
Open Saturday and Sunday

Noon–5 p.m.

Jean Outland Chrysler Library

Reading Room
Wednesday-Friday
10 a.m.–5 p.m.

About the Myers House

The oldest Jewish home in America open to the public as a museum offers a glimpse of the life of an early 19th century merchant family.
More about the house

About the Library

With an extensive collection of more than 106,000 rare and unique volumes relating to the history of art, the Jean Outland Chrysler Art Library is one of the most significant art libraries in the South. More about the library

Located in Norfolk

One Memorial Place,
Norfolk, VA
Get Directions

While You're Here

Visit our Museum Shop
and Zinnia Cafe.

Perry Glass Studio

A state-of-art facility on the Museum’s campus. See a free glassmaking demo Tuesdays–Sunday at noon. Like what you see? Take a class with us! More about the Studio

The Myers House

The home of the first permanent Jewish residents of Norfolk, this historic house offers a glimpse of the life of a wealthy early 19th-century merchant family.
More about the house

Jean Outland Chrysler Library

With an extensive collection of more than 106,000 rare and unique volumes relating to the history of art, the Jean Outland Chrysler Library is one of the most significant art libraries in the South. More about the Library

Wedding & Event Rentals

The perfect place for your big day or special event. Get the details

In-person Tours

Group tours are available for groups of 20 or fewer. More about tours

Jean Outland Chrysler Library

Visit one of the most significant art libraries in the South. More about the library

About the Chrysler

Our story spans well over 100 years. See where we began, how we grew, and where we're going. Explore our history

News and Announcements

See what's happening at the Museum, read Chrysler Magazine, and find our Media Center. Read now

Location

One Memorial Place
Norfolk, VA 23510

Location

745 Duke Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
757-333-6299

Always Free Parking

Get Directions

Visiting Artist Series

Bringing the world’s top glass art talent to Hampton Roads
Find out more

Studio Team

Meet the brilliant minds behind the Studio.
See the team

Give the Chrysler Experience

Share everything you love about the Chrysler Museum with a gift membership. Perfect for everyone on your list.

The Masterpiece Society

Learn about this innovative group of museum supporters.
Meet the Masterpiece Society

Planned Giving

Help ensure the long-term success of the Museum.
Learn about planned giving

Close
Sign up for emails from the Chrysler Museum of Art

Join Our Email List

Sign Up
ArtExhibitionsPast

Alma W. Thomas:
Everything Is Beautiful

On View

July 9, 2021 — October 3, 2021

Location

Special Exhibition Galleries

Alma Thomas (American, 1891–1978), Air View of Spring Nursery, 1966, Acrylic on canvas, The Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA

Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful will provide a comprehensive overview of the artist’s long life (1891–1978) with approximately 100 works, including her rarely seen theatrical designs and beloved abstract paintings. The exhibition will track Thomas’s artistic journey from semi-rural Georgia to international recognition, demonstrating how her artistic practices extended to every facet of her life—from community service and teaching to gardening and dress.

 

 

Clown Marionette made by Alma Thomas
Alma Thomas (American, 1891–1978) Clown Marionette, ca. 1935 Fabric, wood, paint, and strings The Columbus Museum Columbus, GA

Unlike a traditional biography, the exhibition will be organized around multiple themes from Thomas’s experience. These themes include the context of Thomas’s Washington Color School cohort, the creative communities connected to Howard University, and peers who protested museums that failed to represent artists of color.

Co-curators Jonathan Frederick Walz, PhD, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of American Art at The Columbus Museum and Seth Feman, PhD, the Chrysler’s Deputy Director for Art & Interpretation and Curator of Photography will intentionally include diverse artworks and archival materials. These elements will reveal Thomas’s complex and deliberate artistic existence before, during, and after the years of her “mature” output and career-making solo show at the Whitney Museum in 1972. She was the first African American woman to have a retrospective at the famed New York institution.

 

 

 

Jan van Raay (American, born 1942), Faith Ringgold and Michele Wallace at Black Emergency Cultural Coalition (BECC) protest at the Whitney Museum, New York, January 31, 1971, (305-37-013171001R), Digital C-print (late print), Jan van Raay, Portland, OR
Alma Thomas (American, 1891–1978), Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music, 1976, Acrylic on three canvases, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

With the addition of Resurrection to the White House Collection in 2015, acquisitions by notable public institutions including Crystal Bridges Museum and MoMA, and a two-venue exhibition at the Tang Museum and The Studio Museum in Harlem in 2016, the time is right to reconsider Alma Thomas’s life and legacy.

“Despite the flurry of overdue attention, the artist’s long career is still inaccurately reduced to the late paintings from the 1960s and early 1970s,” Walz and Feman said. “The Columbus Museum’s rich holdings related to Thomas – a native of Columbus – offer the opportunity to present deeper insights into Thomas’s art and an inspiring look at how to lead a creative life.”

 

Alma Thomas (American, 1891–1978), Horizon, 1974, Acrylic on paper, Henry H. and Carol Brown Goldberg, Bethesda, MD

 Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful is co-organized by The Columbus Museum and the Chrysler Museum of Art

The exhibition will travel to the following institutions:

Visit from Home

Virtual Tour

Exhibition Programming

Member Preview Day
Thursday, July 8

Members are invited to enjoy a first look at the exhibition before it opens to the public.

Virtual Members' Preview
Thursday, July 8

Discover details about Alma W. Thomas’s life and work and pose some of your own questions during a live webinar with catalog scholars Aaron Payne, owner of Aaron Payne Fine Art, and Elka Marie Stevens, PhD, Associate Professor & Coordinator of Fashion Design at Howard University. RSVP

Business Appreciation Day
Saturday, July 17

Local businesses, you’re invited to join us for our first-ever Business Appreciation Day. Details

Hands-on Fun for Kids and Families
Family Day: Everything is Beautiful
Saturday, July 24

Celebrate Alma W. Thomas’s life and explore the idea of beauty in the world around us.

Member Nights
Fourth Wednesdays, July–September

Join us in the galleries after-hours! Enjoy exclusive access to the exhibition with a cash bar in Huber Court. Get tickets

Book Club: Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude
Sunday, August 1

Ross Gay meditates on that which goes away—loved ones, the seasons, and the earth as we know it—and tries to find solace in the processes of the garden and the orchard, where death, sorrow, and loss are converted into what might, with patience, nourish us. Sign up

Painted Meditations with Poetry Jackson
Saturday, August 7 or September 4

Explore color theory, visual depth, and perception while you create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. No experience necessary. Sign up

An Evening with Ross Gay
Thursday, August 12

Gay will discuss poetry, art, and the work of Alma Thomas with Seth Feman, PhD, the Deputy Director of Art & Interpretation and Curator of Photography. Details

Book Club: The Address Book
Sunday, August 29

Deirdre Mask examines the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King, Jr. and the wayfinding means of ancient Romans. Sign up

John Wilmerding Symposium on American Art and Community Celebration
Wednesday, September 22

In a virtual symposium hosted by the National Gallery of Art, explore the life of Alma W. Thomas with particular focus on her place in Washington, D.C.’s artistic world. Registration opening soon

Book Club: My Garden (Book)
Sunday, September 26

Uncover what inspired Jamaica Kincaid, discover her affection for rhododendron Jane Grant and ordinary Blue Lake string beans. Learn about the people who tend to gardens in this intimate and playful book. Sign up

In the Museum Shop

/**/

/**/

Support

More special exhibitions

On view right now

Jacket and shorts set made out of candy wrappers
Through April 28, 2024

Peers: Mixed Media Work and the Tenth Annual Wearable Arts Exhibition
Exhibition Details

Painting of parents and child on floral background
Through March 31, 2024

Hampton Roads Student Gallery
Exhibition Details