Malaspina Great Books, Established 1995; Created by Russell McNeil, PhD, Visitors:

With the growing importance of global warming, Climate News Live provides up-to-date news and information. This is a non-partisan source of timely news articles, current events, and the relevant topics that are shaping the public policy debate in the United States and elsewhere. ... (click on picture or headline above for more)

title author

Malaspina Great Books Blog

The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained Russell McNeil, PhD Editor, Malaspina Great Books In 1862 the English literary critic and poet Matthew Arnold described Marcus Aurelius as "the most beautiful figure in history." The Stoicism of Aurelius is grounded in rationality and rests solidly on an ethical approach rooted in nature. Stoicism promises real happiness and joy in this life and a serenity that can never be soured by personal misfortune. This philosophy has universal appeal with practical implications on problems ranging from climate change and terrorism to the personal management of sickness, aging, depression and addiction. I truly believe that the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius has much to offer us now...(Click on book cover for more)

Category:	Modern Art
Name:	Alma W. Thomas The Road to Expressionism
Birth Year:	1891
Death Year:	1978
Representative Image:
Biography, Lectures, and Research Links:	Biography Blog Alma W. Thomas SEARCH NOW: by title by author Find your favorite art: barewalls.com Alma W. Thomas had her first one-woman show at the age of 68 and developed her signature style seven years later. Despite her belated start, Alma Woodsey Thomas went on to have retrospectives at the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Museum of American Art, both in Washington, D.C.; she was the first African American woman to have a solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art; and she exhibited her paintings at the White House on three occasions. Thomas was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. In 1907 she moved with her family to Washington, D.C., into the house where she spent the remaining seven decades of her life. After graduating from high school, where she excelled at art, Thomas earned a teaching certificate and, later, a master's degree in art education. Throughout her life, Thomas concentrated on her career; she painted part time while supporting herself by teaching art, notably at Shaw Junior High School, where she worked from 1924 until her retirement in 1960. Thomas's early art was realistic. However, at Howard University, where she was the Art Department's first graduate in 1924, she became fascinated by abstraction, based on the influence of her professors Lois Mailou Jones and James V. Herring. When she was invited to exhibit her art at Howard in 1966, Thomas decided to experiment with a new approach, the type of painting for which she is best known today: large canvases filled with dense, irregular patterns made by brushes heavily laden with bright colors. Thomas's mature work has been compared with Byzantine mosaics, the pointillist technique of Georges Seurat, and the paintings of the Washington Color School, yet her work is quite distinctive. A lifelong political activist, Thomas offered weekly art classes to children from Washington's poorest neighborhoods even when she was suffering from severe arthritis. In her 80s, neither a broken hip nor a heart ailment prevented her from continuing to paint. [Adapted from National Museum of Women in the Arts] The Great Books: Alma Thomas Please browse our Amazon list of titles about Alma Thomas. For rare and hard to find works we recommend our Alibris list of titles about Alma Thomas. Post Comments, Questions or Suggestions! This database is maintained by Malaspina Great Books.
	Great Books Online: Amazon Search Search: All Products Books Classical Music DVD Popular Music Software Video magazines Toys & Games Baby Computer & Video Games Electronics Wireless Phones Tools & Hardware Outdoor Living Kitchen & Housewares Camera & Photo All Products Keywords:
	Biographical & Documentary Video Research
Best Choice Books, Music, Art:	A Retrospective of the Paintings
Browse Books, Music, Art & Book Reviews:	Books from Alibris: Alma W. Thomas Books from Amazon: Alma W. Thomas
	Audiobooks at iTunes: Thousands of Classics
	Art Posters: African American Women
Library Catalogs:	COPAC UK: Alma W. Thomas Library of Canada Search Form Library of Congress: Alma W. Thomas Other Library Catalogs: Alma W. Thomas
External Links:	Representative Image: Untitled (1966) Research Links: Alma W. Thomas Malaspina Canada Links: Alma W. Thomas
Online Research:
Records from Related Period and Category:	Modern Art

About this Database:

This web page is part of a biographical database on Great Ideas. These are living ideas that have shaped, defined and directed world culture for over 2,500 years. By definition the Great Ideas are radical. As such they are sometimes misread, or distorted by popular simplifications. Understanding a Great Idea demands personal engagement. Our selection of Great Ideas is drawn from literature and philosophy, science, art, music, theatre, and cinema. We also include biographies of pivotal historical and religious figures, as well as contributions from women and other historically under-represented minorities. The result is an integrated multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary database built upon the framework of the always controversial Great Books Core List published in 1940 by the late Great Books Pioneer Mortimer Adler (1902-2001). Most of the works on that list are available in the 60 volume Great Books of the Western World.