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Annette Fromm - Review of Randy Ramer, Thomas Gilcrease

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Two lavishly illustrated and related books open the window to a small piece of American museum history. Thomas Gilcrease provides insight into the building of a significant collection and museum in the American heartland. Willard Stone documents the artistic growth of a twentieth-century artist who for a number of years received support from Mr. Gilcrease, which enabled him to pursue his work as an artist in wood. Both are coffee-table-type volumes with brief yet substantive texts, illustrated with beautiful photographs of artwork.

Thomas Gilcrease is comprised of ten essays about Gilcrease’s vision, passion, and drive as an early American oil man and an art and history connoisseur. In a lifetime, he amassed more than 12,000 works of fine art, 300,000 ethnographic and archeological items, and 100,000 rare books and manuscripts. The authors, including museum staff and others, address issues regarding who Thomas Gilcrease was and how he made his money. Also addressed is how he developed into one of the most important American collectors and a museum builder. The text is illustrated with examples of the artwork, documents and objects at the heart of his collection, and photographs of the museum which show how it has grown since it was first built on the hill overlooking Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Arkansas River. This location is allegedly within sight of Washington Irving’s camp during his tour of the southern and western United States in the 1830s. Sidebars and brief inserted texts and illustrations allow the authors to include related notes, such as a short piece on Gilcrease’s five-month grand tour of Europe in 1925.

The first article, written by Duane H. King, director of the Gilcrease Museum, introduces the reader to the history of this unexpected oilman and art collector. Thomas Gilcrease was born in 1890, one of fourteen children. His parents were a mixture of French and Scots-Irish and Muscogee Creek. Because of his ratio of Creek blood, Gilcrease qualified for enrollment in the tribe and was allotted 160 acres of land south of Tulsa. Who would know that his land was over one of the richest oil reservoirs in the continental U.S., the Glenn Pool? He used oil revenues to attain an education at Bacone College in Muskogee and used his knowledge to successfully fight unlawful oil leases which sought to deprive Native land holders of income from their chemical resources.

From 1922, Gilcrease built an overwhelmingly successful oil company that until 1937 was headquartered in Tulsa. At that time, he moved the Gilcrease Oil Company to San Antonio, Texas. In the meantime, Gilcrease started collecting art that captured the western United States where he lived. In 1943, he opened the Museum of American Indians in San Antonio and continued to increase his collection of art and other American treasures including works of Remington, Russell, Seltzer, and others.

For a variety of reasons, Gilcrease returned his museum to Tulsa, to the rolling hills on which his home was located. Noted American artist and University of Tulsa faculty member, Alexander Hogue, was hired to design the new museum. The Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art opened in 1949. Eventually, the museum was acquired by the City of Tulsa and is now managed in part by the University of Tulsa.

The short essay contributed by longtime museum staff member Anne Morand explores the Philip G. Cole western art collection, which Gilcrease acquired in 1944. This significant collection of artwork was supported by a rich correspondence between the artists and Cole, also included as part of the Gilcrease acquisition. Morand provides insight into Cole’s relationships with artists including Remington, Seltzer, and Sharp. The Seltzer letters and envelopes brightened with small illustrations are a favorite of mine in the museum. Illustrations in this chapter along with examples of the artwork include several period photographs showing how this huge collection was displayed in Cole’s estate in New York.

Brief vignettes of Gilcrease’s relationship with artists, many of them from Oklahoma, are provided in the chapter by Carole Klein. Oklahoma in the early twentieth century was a cauldron of art activity. With encouragement from faculty at the University of Tulsa, Bacone College, and the University of Oklahoma, several generations of Native American artists have been encouraged and nurtured. As a collector, Gilcrease helped to support many of these artists as their voices grew. Included among them are Acee Blue Eagle, Woody Crumbo, Willard Stone (the subject of the second volume reviewed here), and non-Native artists such as Joseph Sharp, Oscar Berninghaus, Charles Banks Wilson, and others who documented life in the western states. Other articles provide insight into the treasures in the different parts of the collections of the museum.

Again, who could have predicted that a young man raised in rural Louisiana and Indian Territory would have had the opportunity and resources to gain an education, found and direct a prosperous oil company, and have the deep-seated interest in art and history to found a significant museum sited in the Osage hills of eastern Oklahoma? This book relates the inconceivable story of a young man, with Creek lineage, who was able to make such a contribution to the public. It provides insights into the creation of an invaluable collection of art, ethnography, archeology, and history representing all of the Americas. It also tells the story of the creation and growth of one world-renowned museum deep in the American heartland. The only weakness I found was an editorial issue. Several of the authors write about the history of Mr. Gilcrease and his collection; this is repetitive and should have been more closely edited.

Like the volume on Thomas Gilcrease, Willard Stone is a slick publication replete with illustrations. It is the catalog from a 2009 exhibit, “Willard Stone: Storyteller in Wood,” a retrospective at the Gilcrease Museum. It is also the second volume in the Artists of Gilcrease series published by the museum. The book comprises six articles which explore the biography of Stone, his relationship with Mr. Gilcrease, his artwork, and his rise to national stature.

Willard Stone (1916–1985) was a prolific Oklahoma artist who worked in wood. The first article, by museum curator Randy Ramer, traces Stone’s history as a young man growing up in a farming family in eastern Oklahoma. As a young man, Stone was interested in art, especially drawing. An accident in 1929 which left his right hand injured, put a stop to his desire to become a painter. The creative forces, however, could not be stopped and Stone enrolled in the arts program at Bacone College where he studied with Acee Blue Eagle and Woody Crumbo. He also learned more about his Native American heritage while at Bacone; his mother was enrolled in the Cherokee Nation.

In 1946, Willard Stone and Thomas Gilcrease entered into a relationship which allowed the artist to pursue his artwork in his home studio. Stone frequently shared design ideas with Mr. Gilcrease who commented on the stylistic approaches. Gilcrease maintained a close, supportive relationship with Stone during much of the artist’s adult life. He was able to acquire a large collection of Stone’s work as well as sketches of the works in progress. The book benefits from the use of these sketches, alongside photographs of a number of the detailed carvings. These illustrations bring to life the texts written by Carol Klein who explores the artistic process and the subject matter chosen by Stone. The short essay by Regan Hansen, Mr. Stone’s grandson, is an addition to the volume. It brings an intensely personal voice to the descriptive analyses of the other articles. The short text, illustrated with sculptures that one might consider trite because of their popular subject matter, provides insight into the artist’s relationship with his large family.

Both books are related in a very readable and chatty text rich with illustrations that support the text. One is the story of how Thomas Gilcrease amassed an enviable collection of art, ethnography, archeology, and documents attesting to the history of the Americas and created his namesake museum in, of all places, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The other relates the tale of Willard Stone, a talented Native American artist in wood, who found patronage from Thomas Gilcrease. I had the opportunity to live in Oklahoma for thirteen years. When not at work, I volunteered as a guide for business visitors from overseas. Invariably, none of these visitors knew why they were visiting Oklahoma and each left with an appreciation of the resources of the lesser-known parts of the United States. Each of these books adds to the knowledge of the Native American art and the growth of an internationally significant collection and museum … in Oklahoma. I urge all interested in these topics to read these books, and then go to Oklahoma.

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[Review length: 1461 words • Review posted on October 27, 2010]