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Tiptoe Through the Tulips, 1969

Alma Thomas

Not on View

Alma Thomas loved to explore color. In this painting, Thomas created vertical stripes of vivid color with slightly varying dabs of paint, giving a mosaic-like effect. The title recalls images of tulip farms, with long and colorful rows of springtime flowers. It also refers to a 1968 song made popular by ukulele musician and singer Tiny Tim.

Thomas’s rhythmic and abstract paintings were often inspired by nature, sometimes drawn from the flowers and trees around her in Washington DC. Her work became associated with the Washington Color School movement, a group of DC-based artists exploring the possibilities of color as a focal point. She once said “Man’s highest inspirations come from nature. A world without color would seem dead.”

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Object Data

Medium

acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 127 × 121.92 cm (50 × 48 in.)

framed: 128.91 × 123.83 × 3.81 cm (50 3/4 × 48 3/4 × 1 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Corcoran Collection (Gift of Vincent Melzac)

Accession Number

2015.19.145

Artists / Makers

Alma Thomas (painter) American, 1891 - 1978

Image Use

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Detail Information

Inscription

upper left reverse, on stretcher bar: Tiptoe

Provenance

Vincent Melzac [1914-1989], Arlington, Virginia; gift 1972 to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; acquired 2015 by the National Gallery of Art.

Associated Names

Corcoran Gallery of Art
Melzac, Vincent

Exhibition History

1972: Washington Room, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, April - 11 June 1972.

1975: Loan for use by the Ambassador, U.S. Embassy residence, San Salvador, Nicaragua, 1975-1978.

2010: Washington Color and Light, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, 2010-2011, no catalogue.

2021: Alma W. Thomas: Everything Is Beautiful, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk; The Phillips Collection, Washington, 2021 - 2022, no. 124.

Loan for use by the U.S. Department of State, Washington, 1981-1983.