Highlights from the Gilcrease Collection
Gilcrease Museum has a stunning variety of both art and archaeological collections. Over 10,000 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures are included in the collection. Artifacts from the Mississippi Valley region, ancient Mexico, and beyond are also in abundance.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity in all dimensions-cultural, social, historical, biological, and linguistic. At Gilcrease, the anthropology collections and the work of the Department of Anthropology focus on the cultural history of North, Central, and South America, from the first prehistoric populations up to the present-day. The collections comprise more than 250,000 specimens, covering prehistoric and historic archaeology and ethnographic materials from Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo-American cultural traditions. These diverse materials help tell the story of the many peoples and cultures that have made the American experience unique and complex.
Archives
The archival collection contains over 100,000 books, manuscripts, documents, and maps ranging from 1494 to the present. Items of special interest are: A letter dictated and signed by Diego Columbus in 1512; The Cortez Decree of 1521; Copies of the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, signed by Benjamin Franklin; Thomas Jefferson letter dated July 1, 1776; and Codex Canadensis, Louis Nicolas, between 1675 and 1680.
Fine Art
The art collection includes over 10,000 paintings, drawings, prints and sculptures by 400 artists from colonial times to the present.
Western artists for which Gilcrease is renowned include Albert Bierstadt, William M. Cary, George Catlin, Woody Crumbo, William R. Leigh, Alfred Jacob Miller, Thomas Moran, Frederic Remington (including 18 of his 22 bronzes), Charles M. Russell, Olaf Seltzer, Joseph H. Sharp, Willard Stone, and Charles Banks Wilson.
Some of the important, non-western artists featured in the Gilcrease Collection include Thomas Eakins, Robert Feke, Charles Wilson Peale, Daniel Chester French, John Singleton Copley, James McNeil Whistler, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, John James Audubon, William Merritt Chase, and N. C. Wyeth.
Gardens
Using the Gilcrease collections as a guide, theme gardens have been developed on 23 of the Museum's 460 acres. The Pre-Columbian, Pioneer, Colonial, Victorian, and the Rock gardens enhance the Museum's collections by reflecting gardening styles and techniques from the American West. Gilcrease is the only known art museum to have these educational and inspirational gardens on one site.