Thelma Johnson Streat

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Watch this video on the American painter Thelma Johnson Streat (1912–1959), who painted Girl with Bird in 1950. Streat was an African-American artist, dancer, and educator who was known for her art, performance, and work to foster intercultural understanding and appreciation during the 1940s.


Thelma Johnson Streat, Girl with Bird, 1950, oil and collage on paper, 51.4 x 36.8 cm (Georgia Museum of Art, Athens), a Seeing America video.


Key Points

  • Streat's small portrait of a young girl exhibits her abstract style featuring simplified forms and bold, flat areas of color. This style is influenced by several sources, including her experience with mural painting and her study of the art of various indigenous cultures from around the world.

  • Streat was a visual artist, singer, dancer, choreographer, and ethnographer. Throughout her work, she celebrated and defended African American identity. She also addressed the universality of humans through references to the specificity of shared qualities of people across cultures, particularly people of color.

Source: Shawnya L. Harris and Dr. Beth Harris, Smarthistory, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-1010/post-war-american-art/postwar-figurative-art/v/thelma-streat-girl-with-bird
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Last modified: Wednesday, February 21, 2024, 2:04 PM