Past Forward: Native American Art from Gilcrease Museum

Oklahoma’s Gilcrease Museum (Tulsa) houses one of the best and most comprehensive collections of Native American art in the country, largely built by American oilman Thomas Gilcrease (1890–1962). An arts patron, Gilcrease was a citizen of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and his unprecedented efforts and devotion to Indigenous traditions—continued today by Gilcrease Museum—affirmed Native American art as vital to the canon of American art history. Ranging from ancient stone carvings and nineteenth century pottery to contemporary oil paintings and a handful of contrasting Euro-American works, the exhibition showcases 76 works whose visual motifs and shared systems of knowledge connect disparate ancestries, time, and space. It is arranged into four stimulating sections exploring the transhistorical themes of ceremony, sovereignty, visual abstraction, and identity. These groupings amplify Indigenous voices and tell the story of the United States through art that emphasizes Native cultures and the history of the American West. Hours: Sunday – 1 to 5 p.m.; Monday – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Tuesday – 1 to 5 p.m. (Four Arts members only on Tuesdays in January); Wednesday through Saturday – 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on major holidays.

Event Links

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2680218-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2680218-2

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