764. Gilcrease Museum

Where: Tulsa, Oklahoma
When: March 10, 2019
Who with: Dave

Nestled away in the outskirts of the city of Tulsa lies a less known item in The Book. It was here on an unassuming plot of land in 1905 that liquid gold was struck in the form of oil, making the landowner, Thomas Gilcrease, a millionaire by the time he was 20. With his newfound fortune, he began collecting art and artifacts of the American West, particularly those that represented his Native American ancestry. He quickly decided to house those pieces in a museum that bore his name, and since then, the Gilcrease Museum has become the largest collection of art from the American West in the world.

Dave and I were spending a weekend in Oklahoma because...well, why not? New state for me! But also, it was a good work trip for him. So we planned on three days of exploring, one of which was in Tulsa. The Gilcrease Museum was our main activity while there.

The museum is not very big, but sits on a large piece of property landscaped with trees and rocks and the occasional statue. It must be beautiful in the spring when everything is in full bloom.

The statue at the front was one of my favorites. It was called "Sacred Rain Arrow" and depicts a young warrior shooting an arrow into the sky in the hopes of conveying his prayer for rain to the spirit world. 

Once inside, the museum was laid out in an easy-to-follow route. The first section was a collection of Native American artifacts and paintings, including headdresses and clothing. 

While I'm not usually one for taking photos of paintings, I did love this one. Each Native American painting told such an amazing story with no description necessary. While usually, the colors were vibrant, this is perhaps why I found this snow-filled one so striking. 

A hall of masks. 

Next, we moved into a room filled with bronze sculptures. The details and movement captured in these sculptures was just breathtaking.

What I particularly enjoyed was learning how a bronze sculpture is made, at least, in the method that is called "lost wax casting". I took a picture of this step by step process so that I could remember. First, a version is made in an easier medium, like clay or wood, and then is cast in wax to make a shell. 

A wax model is then created and fixed with tunnels to fill the hollow interior of the model. The whole contraption is then cast in plaster and heated to let the wax interior melt out. 

When the plaster is hollow, molten hot bronze is poured into the plaster, filling the vacant space inside. Once completed, the plaster can be chipped away, revealing the bronze cast inside. 

Final product!

The final wing of the museum we explored was the museum's core collection. Most of these were paintings of the west and depicted epic scenes of natural wonders, mountains, rivers, and the Old West. 

One particular room was dedicated to the life of Thomas Gilcrease. We saw the first painting he ever bought next to a photo of him with it. The painting that started it all!

Thomas Gilcrease was not the only person to make his fortune off of oil. In fact, oil is what put Tulsa on the map and made it a very wealthy city back in the day. After the museum, we decided to take a quick walk around the area. While the city is now a bit desolate, the art deco architecture is hard to miss. It feels a bit like old-time Manhattan. 

The rest of Tulsa I'll cover in my Route 66 post, as the famous motorway passed right through Tulsa on its way from Chicago to LA. So for now, this was our time in Tulsa! The museum had a great story and a beautiful collection of art - a perfect start to our Oklahoma adventure!