Philbrook Museum of Art

The Philbrook Museum of Art is an art museum situated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, renowned for its expansive formal gardens and diverse global holdings. Opened in 1939, the institution is housed in Villa Philbrook, the former residence of Oklahoma oil pioneer Waite Phillips and his wife Genevieve. The museum showcases nine collections spanning various artistic media, styles, and eras, with a cornerstone focus on Native American art, including basketry, pottery, paintings, and jewelry. It welcomes approximately 123,000 visitors annually and holds accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums.

Waite and Genevieve Phillips donated their villa and property to the city of Tulsa in 1938 with the vision of establishing a cultural center for art, literature, and crafts. Following a comprehensive remodeling of the house, the museum opened to the public on October 25, 1939, under the direction of its first director, Eugene Kingman. Its initial permanent collection comprised works from the Tulsa Art Association and original artworks from the villa. Studio art classes began in 1940, followed by a touring program for schoolchildren, which led to the creation of a Children's Museum in 1949. A new wing was built in 1969 to accommodate increased demand for studio classes. The institution experienced financial difficulties in the 1980s but underwent a renaissance in the 1990s. It was first accredited in 1987, the same year its name changed from the Philbrook Art Center to the Philbrook Museum of Art. In 1990, the museum expanded again by adding the 70,000 square foot Kravis Wing, which provided a special exhibition gallery, museum school, library, restaurant, and event spaces. Philbrook was reaccredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 2009. A satellite facility, Philbrook Downtown, opened in the Brady Arts District on June 14, 2013, featuring modern, contemporary, and Native American art, but it closed in 2020 to make way for the Bob Dylan Center.

The permanent collection encompasses more than 16,000 objects spanning European, American, Native American, Modern and Contemporary Art and Design, African, Asian, and Antiquities. The foundation of the collection was built upon gifts of American Indian pottery and basketry from Clark Field starting in 1942 and the Roberta Campbell Lawson collection in 1947. The American and European holdings were significantly bolstered in 1947 by donations of paintings from Laura Rutherford Clubb, and further enhanced in 1961 by Italian Renaissance paintings and sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Over the succeeding three decades, the Asian, African, and antiquities collections were enriched through gifts from George H. Taber, Pete and Velma Gillert, and Lawrence and Herbert Gussman. The Eugene B. Adkins Collection, featuring Native American painting, pottery, and jewelry, is a significant component shared with the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

The museum's holdings include works by Giovanni Bellini, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, William Merritt Chase, Leonardo Drew, Arturo Herrera, Charles Loloma, Maria Martinez, Thomas Moran, Pablo Picasso, Fritz Scholder, Tanzio da Varallo, Rachel Whiteread, Kehinde Wiley, and Andrew Wyeth. European Renaissance art is represented by artists such as Piero di Cosimo, Gentile da Fabriano, Biagio di Antonio Tucci, and Bernardo Strozzi, alongside French artists like Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot. Specific notable works include a Madonna and Child with two angels by Gentile da Fabriano from circa 1410 to 1415, a Virgin and Child by Taddeo di Bartolo from around 1410, and Bouguereau's 1889 painting The Shepherdess.

The museum is centered on Villa Philbrook, an Italian Renaissance style mansion designed by prominent Kansas City architect Edward Buehler Delk in 1926. Construction by the John Long Company of Kansas City began the same year and was completed in 1927. The three-story structure was built with a steel and reinforced concrete framework, which required minimal remodeling to convert into a museum. Its exterior is stucco mixed with ground white marble, causing the facade to glitter, with Kasota limestone quarried in Minnesota at the corners, doors, and windows to resemble Italian travertine. The rear features a loggia with five arches and Corinthian columns overlooking a terrace. The roof is covered with oversized Italianate tiles. The interior contains 72 rooms with travertine and marble fireplaces, teak, walnut, and oak floors, and ornate ceilings. The ground floor is centered by an entrance hall with a double staircase leading to a receiving hall with a groin vaulted ceiling painted with Italian Renaissance designs, twisted Corinthian columns, and painted plaster screenwork. Flanking this hall are a heavily coffered dining room, a wood paneled library with a globe light fixture reproducing a Leonardo da Vinci era map, and a music room featuring a mural of bobbed-hair flappers in Grecian garb illustrating musical tempos. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 1, 1978. The villa was originally surrounded by 9 hectares of gardens, which have since expanded to 10 hectares. Designed by Hare & Hare in the style of Italian country estates and inspired by Villa Lante, the formal gardens were expanded in 2004.

The Philbrook Museum of Art is located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States. It operates as a cultural institution open to the public, maintaining hours from 9:00 to 17:00 daily, except on Mondays and Tuesdays. The museum continues to fulfill the vision of its founders as a center dedicated to the preservation and presentation of art and culture. More information regarding access, programming, and current exhibitions can be found on the institution's official website.