Lunar Rendezvous—Circle of Flowers

Artist Alma Thomas (1891 - 1978)

Date1969

MediumAcrylic on canvas

Dimensions50 × 48 in. (127 × 121.9 cm)
Framed: 52 in. × 49 7/8 in. × 1 3/4 in.

ClassificationsPainting

Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2015.2

Signedl.r.: A W Thomas '69 verso, u.r.: Alma W. Thomas / 1530 15th St. N.W. / Washington DC

Accession number 2015.2

On View

On view

Provenanceto Delilah Williams Pierce [1904-1992], Washington, D.C.; by descent to Mediel W. Spence (her daughter), Washington, DC, 1992; by descent to Wanda Spence McDow (her daughter), Washington, D.C.; purchased by (Pensler Fine Art, Washington, D.C.); (Michael Rosenfeld Gallery, New York, NY); purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2015
Label TextBy arranging rhythmic brushstrokes in a circle, Alma Thomas responded to the first image of Earth taken from the moon in 1969. Thinking about her love of gardening, Thomas created this painting by arranging the color into mosaic-like patterns, imagining what one of her favorite gardens might look like from the new vantage point of space. The resulting work uses abstraction to portray her response to technological advances and an intimate, methodical meditation on a personal passion.

Alma Thomas respondió a la primera imagen de la Tierra tomada desde la luna en 1969 con una disposición rítmica de pinceladas en círculo. Reflexionando sobre su amor por la jardinería, Thomas creó esta pintura disponiendo el color en patrones semejantes a mosaicos e imaginando qué aspecto tendría uno de sus jardines favoritos desde el nuevo punto de vista que ofrecía el espacio. La obra resultante hace uso de la abstracción para plasmar su respuesta a los avances tecnológicos y comunicar una reflexión íntima y metódica sobre su pasión personal.