Alma W. Thomas (1891–1978) was an African American color field painter.

Born and raised in Columbus, Georgia, Thomas moved to Washington, D.C. with her family in 1907. She was the first graduate from the Howard University art department in 1924. Her early art was realistic, but delved into abstration influenced by the work of her professors Lois Mailou Jones and James Herring . The new approach she developed is what she became known for; large canvases were filled with irregular brightly colored patterns. These works have been compared to Byzantine mosaics and the pointillism of Georges Seurat.

References

Alma W. Thomas. Malaspina Great Books. Retrieved 2005-02-06 .