Tulsa, OK

Charles Banks Wilson is one of Oklahoma’s premier artists whose artworks have been collected and exhibited around the globe. Gilcrease Museum holds one of the most comprehensive collections of Wilson’s work ranging from his early years as an art student and illustrator to his extensive series of Native American portraits and scenes of Oklahoma life. Working in a variety of mediums, Wilson’s talent prompted Thomas Hart Benton to declare him “America’s finest artist historian.”

Wilson is an accomplished illustrator, muralist, lithographer, sculptor, and teacher. His work has been widely acclaimed for its attention to detail and insightful composition. The exhibition Charles Banks Wilson: An Oklahoma Life in Art will not only showcase the museum’s holdings but will also include a number of artworks from private collections and several new paintings that have never been on public view.

“Painting is a form of poetry made to be seen,” says Wilson. “A painting should not only appeal but should also mean.” The meanings that Wilson finds in his subjects have come from a lifetime of study and effort. Born in Arkansas, the artist spent his formative years in Miami, Oklahoma, a place that would shape his view of the world around him.

Wilson’s career as an artist began in the 1930’s after training at the Chicago Art Institute. After a stint in New York in the 1940s working as a book illustrator, he returned to his Oklahoma roots in Miami to begin his life’s work. Over the next sixty years Wilson would build a body of work that places him among the important artists of our time. He has been compared to George Catlin and Joseph Henry Sharp for the significance of his portraits of American Indians but also to Regionalist artists such as Thomas Hart Benton and John Steuart Curry for his rich but humane renderings of everyday Oklahoma life. “When you look at a work of art, you are sharing an experience in the company of the artist.”

Charles Banks Wilson: An Oklahoma Life in Art consists of over 200 of the artist’s finest works, including oils, watercolors, pencil drawings, and lithographs. “Wilson’s accomplishments are simply extraordinary,” says Randy Ramer, collections manager at Gilcrease. “When you consider the scope of his efforts, it’s hard to find anyone to seriously compare him with. Take a look at his murals now at the state capitol. Wilson rendered many scenes from Oklahoma history that had been largely forgotten and are now captured for all time. He has captured the look and feel of Oklahoma, a real sense of time and place. We owe him a great debt of gratitude for what he has given us.”

Without a doubt, Charles Banks Wilson has created a legacy that can be enjoyed by all Oklahomans. From his American Indian Pureblood series to his portraits and historical murals at the Oklahoma State Capitol, Wilson’s achievements are unparalleled. “While Charles unequivocally says that he is not a historian,” says Ramer. “He certainly has a historian’s eye for detail and a keen interest in the past. He is also a very careful researcher. He will typically spend far more time studying a given subject than he will in the execution of the actual work. I don’t mean just visual observation. Much of his research has taken place in libraries and museum archives around the world. He has a painstaking need to ‘get it right.’” At home in his studio in Fayetteville, AR, Wilson reflects on his life in art. “The importance of what I do, I do not know,” he says. “We do our own stuff and time has to put a value on it.”

Location: Gilcrease Museum, 1400 Gilcrease Museum Road Tulsa, OK 74127 (918) 596-2700

Sponsors:
The Maxine and Jack Zarrow Family Foundation; SemGroup, L.P.; the Oklahoma Arts Council