The Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, OK, houses one of America’s most comprehensive collections of 20th-century Native American art, not to mention wing after wing of masterful European paintings, Etruscan antiquities, and hand-carved African masks. But the building itself is just as noteworthy—a relic from the 1920s oil boom that turned turned businessmen like Waite Phillips into instant millionaires. In 1938, the Iowa native gifted his sprawling 72-room mansion, set on 23 lush acres, to the City of Tulsa; one year later, it opened to the public as an art museum.
Today, visitors wander the halls and gardens of the grand villa, admiring the Italian Renaissance architecture and taking selfies in the sculptured gardens. A recent exhibition, “Native Fashion Now,” trumpeted contemporary designers whose work rarely gets the mainstream attention it deserves. Among the highlights: a vintage embroidered dress by Kewa Pueblo designer Juanita Lee; shiny Mylar ballgowns accented with bald eagle feathers by Osage designer Wendy Ponca; a beaded Lone Ranger cuff made by Choctaw artist Marcus Amerman; and knee-high stiletto boots from Christian Louboutin, hand-stitched with thousands of antique beads by Shoshone-Bannock/Luiseño designer Jamie Okuma.
The current lineup includes a colorful, large-scale yarn installation by HOTTEA in the rotunda and mezzanine (up through November 12, 2017), a survey of acclaimed Oklahoman art made between 1940 and 1976 (through June 18), and a photography exhibition that waltzes visitors through the golden age of Hollywood glamour, as captured by young Condé Nast photographer Lusha Nelson (through May 7).
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursdays until 8 p.m. Admission is $9 and includes entry to the Philbrook’s satellite location downtown, which displays works by contemporary darlings like Mike Glier and Christopher Wool.
2727 S. Rockford Rd., Tulsa, OK; 918-749-7941.
