Thelma Johnson Streat facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Thelma Johnson Streat
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Thelma Johnson
August 29, 1912 Yakima, Washington, U.S.
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| Died | May 1959 (aged 46) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Museum Art School in Portland |
| Known for | Painting, dance |
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Thelma Beatrice Johnson Streat (1912–1959) was an amazing African-American artist, dancer, and teacher. She became well-known in the 1940s for her art and performances. Thelma worked hard to help people from different cultures understand and appreciate each other.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Thelma Johnson was born on August 29, 1912, in Yakima. This was a small farming town in Washington State. Her father, James Johnson, was an artist, and her mother was Gertrude. Thelma also had some Cherokee heritage.
When she was a young child, her family moved to Portland, Oregon. She finished high school at Washington High School in 1932. Thelma started painting when she was just seven years old. She studied art at the Museum Art School in Portland from 1934 to 1935. She also took more art classes at the University of Oregon from 1935 to 1936.
Thelma Streat's Art Work
Thelma Streat was a very talented artist. She used many ways to express herself. These included oil and watercolor paintings, drawings, charcoal sketches, and even designs for fabrics.
A year after high school, Thelma's paintings were shown at the New York Public Library in New York City. This was supported by the Oregon Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and the Harmon Foundation. In 1938, she moved to San Francisco. There, she worked on Works Progress Administration projects.
Her art was also shown at the De Young Memorial Museum and the San Francisco Museum of Art. This museum is now called the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. From 1939 to 1940, she helped the famous artist Diego Rivera. They worked on his large mural called Pan American Unity. This mural was part of the Art in Action exhibition. You can see a portrait of Thelma Streat in this mural. It is at City College of San Francisco (CCSF).
Thelma Streat often painted important people from history. She painted well-known Americans like Frank Lloyd Wright. She also created a series of portraits of famous people of African heritage. These included singer Marian Anderson and activist Paul Robeson. She also painted Toussaint Louverture and Harriet Tubman.
As a leader in modern African American art, her work influenced many others. She was inspired by artists like Jacob Lawrence and Romare Bearden. Thelma was amazing at mixing dance, songs, and folk tales from different cultures. She used these to teach and inspire people to appreciate all cultures. This was a new idea for her time.
Famous Art Collections
Thelma's most famous painting is Rabbit Man. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) bought it in 1942. This made Thelma the first African-American woman to have a painting in MoMA's permanent collection.
The National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., also owns her work. In 2016, they bought her mural Medicine and Transportation. Thelma painted this mural between 1942 and 1944. It shows African-Americans working in labs and factories.
The Mills College Art Museum in Oakland, California, has a children's book drawing by Thelma. It is called Robot.
Many famous people have owned Thelma's art. These include actor Vincent Price and artist Diego Rivera.
Select Exhibitions
Thelma's paintings have been shown in many museums and galleries. Some of these include:
- 1938 – Displeased Lady, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California
- 1942 – New Acquisitions: American Painting and Sculpture, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York
- 1943 – The Little Gallery, owned by actor and art collector Vincent Price, Beverly Hills, California
- 1943 – The International Exhibit of Watercolor, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
- 2003 – Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
- 2017 – Visual Art and the American Experience, National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C.
- Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
Dancer, Singer, and Folklorist
Like her friend Katherine Dunham, Thelma Streat traveled to Haiti. She went there between 1946 and 1951 to study dance. She believed dance could help change society and challenge old ways of thinking. She also visited Mexico and Canada.
In 1946, Thelma showed her new dances at the San Francisco Museum of Art. These dances were inspired by her travels. They combined dance styles from African, Haitian, Hawaiian, Native American, and Portuguese cultures.
Thelma understood that prejudice and unfairness are learned, often when people are children. To fight this, she performed dances, songs, and folk tales. She shared these from many cultures with thousands of children. She traveled across Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Her goal was to show kids the beauty and value of all cultures.
Teacher and Activist
In 1945, Thelma led a group in Chicago. They worked to create murals as part of a "Negro in Labor" education project. Between 1948 and 1950, Thelma moved to Hawaii with her second husband, Edgar Kline.
They started the Children's City of Hawaii and New School of Expression. This school was in Punaluu, Oahu. It taught children about art and the importance of cultural diversity. A second Children's City school opened in British Columbia, Canada, in 1956.
Honors and Accomplishments
- She became nationally known at age 18. Her painting "A Priest" won an award in New York City in 1929.
- She was the first African-American woman to have a painting shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York (1942).
- Thelma led the Children's Education Project. This project taught American kids about the contributions of African Americans through colorful murals.
- She was threatened by the KKK for showing a painting that honored a Black American sailor.
- She performed a dance for the King and Queen of the United Kingdom at Buckingham Palace in 1950.
- She was the first American woman to have her own television show in Paris (1949).
- She worked with Mexican muralist Diego Rivera on his Pan American Unity mural in San Francisco in 1939.
- By 1947, she was one of only four African American abstract painters to have solo shows in New York City.
Personal Life and Death
Thelma married Romaine Virgil Streat in 1935. They divorced in 1948. Thelma kept using her married name for her art career. Later that year, she married John Edgar Kline. He was her manager and a writer and producer for theater and film.
Thelma Streat passed away from a heart attack in 1959.
Images for kids
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Thelma Johnson Streat dancing.
See also
In Spanish: Thelma Johnson Streat para niños
