80 Years of OKCMOA
Explore the history of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, a longstanding art institution in the state.
Ruins Along the Hudson (ca. 1937) by Harry GottliebOklahoma City Museum of Art
WPA/FAP Oklahoma Art Center
The Works Progress Administration (WPA), created in 1935 to curb the mass unemployment of the Great Depression, managed many projects. Its Federal Art Project (FAP) provided substantial resources for artists and established over one hundred art centers around the United States.
Oklahoma's first WPA art center
In 1936, FAP’s Assistant Director, Tom C. Parker, asked local artist and community leader Nan Sheets to manage the WPA Experimental Gallery in Oklahoma City. They hoped to test the long-term potential of a federally funded art center in the state.
A successful experiment
Sheets quickly exceeded expectations, and the Experimental Gallery became an immense success. She gave lectures and taught art classes to children and adults alike, hosted FAP traveling exhibitions, and facilitated shows of Oklahoma artists and collectors.
Landscape by Stuart Carson EdieOklahoma City Museum of Art
Growth and expansion
In 1937, the Gallery was moved to a larger space in the Civic Center’s Municipal Auditorium and renamed the WPA Oklahoma Art Center. For the next three years, Sheets and her staff continued to bring art and education to the community through exhibitions, classes, and lectures.
Stone Crushers (no date) by Morris KantorOklahoma City Museum of Art
WPA Art Collection
In 1942, when the WPA funding shifted to the state’s control, Sheets quickly gathered financial support to continue the Oklahoma Art Center’s work. She helped secure the beginnings of a permanent collection and acquired twenty-eight FAP works by twenty-six American artists.
Oklahoma Art Center
The Oklahoma Art Center was officially incorporated on May 18, 1945. Over the next forty years, it continued to bring art to Oklahoma by displaying exhibitions from around the world, hosting juried art shows, and building its permanent collection.
New Home for the Oklahoma Art Center
The Oklahoma Art Center eventually outgrew its space in the Civic Center. In 1958, a large donation from John and Eleanor Blake Kirkpatrick funded a new facility at the State Fair Park, providing more space for education and exhibitions and allowing OAC to grow its collection.
The Washington Gallery of Modern Art
In 1968, the Art Center purchased the Washington Gallery of Modern Art’s 154-work collection. With this acquisition, an important milestone in our city and region’s cultural history, the Art Center joined the ranks of prominent American art museums collecting contemporary art.
Grand Canyon (20th century) by Frederick W. BeckerOklahoma City Museum of Art
Oklahoma Museum of (Conservative) Art
Founded in 1960, the Oklahoma Museum of Conservative Art (later dropping “Conservative”) focused on American Realism and other representational art. It operated for nearly thirty years and brought art to the community through free public exhibitions and programs.
Fog Horn (20th century) by Jack ValleeOklahoma City Museum of Art
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
During the 1980s, a depressed economy following the downturn in the energy industry challenged the city’s ability to support two institutions. In 1989, the Oklahoma Art Center and Oklahoma Museum of Art merged and became the Oklahoma City Art Museum.
A united vision for art
For the next several years, the two museums operated under one name in their separate buildings. However, they worked together to continue bringing art to Oklahoma, adding many contemporary artworks and notable acquisitions from earlier periods to the permanent collection.
A new museum for the city
After extensive fundraising in the mid-1990s, a new facility was built in downtown Oklahoma City. In March 2002, the Museum opened its doors as the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
The city's collection
In recent years, OKCMOA has continued to expand, strengthen, and diversify its holdings, particularly in photography, prints, postwar art, and sculpture, through generous donations as well as the purchase of works by contemporary artists like Preston Singletary.
Content By:
Michaela Wegman, Curatorial Fellow, OKCMOA
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