Philbrook Museum of Art facts for kids

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Philbrook Museum of Art

Philbrook Museum of Art
Established	1939 (1939)
Location	2727 S Rockford Rd, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Visitors	160,000

The Philbrook Museum of Art is an amazing art museum located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has huge, beautiful gardens that are fun to explore. The museum first opened its doors in 1939. It is set inside a grand house called "Villa Philbrook." This house used to belong to an oil pioneer named Waite Phillips and his wife, Genevieve.

The museum shows off nine different art collections. These collections feature art from all over the world. They include many types of art and styles. A very important part of the collection is Native American art. You can see baskets, pottery, paintings, and jewelry there.

Discovering Philbrook's Past
- Growing the Museum's Space
  - Art Collections and Famous Artists
Exploring the Museum Building
- The Grand Villa Philbrook Home
  - Inside the Villa's Rooms
Exploring the Beautiful Gardens
How Philbrook is Managed
Art Collection Highlights
See also

Discovering Philbrook's Past

Inside the Philbrook Museum of Art Rotunda

The Philbrook Art Museum welcomed its first visitors on October 25, 1939. Its first director was Eugene Kingman. The museum started with art from the Tulsa Art Association and the Villa Philbrook house. In 1940, they began offering art classes. The next year, they started a touring program for school children. This led to a special Children's Museum opening in 1949.

A new part of the museum was built in 1969. This was because many people wanted to take art classes. The museum's name changed in 1987. It became The Philbrook Museum of Art. In 2009, the museum was re-approved by a group called the American Alliance of Museums. This shows it meets high standards.

Growing the Museum's Space

The Santa Fe Room at Philbrook

In 1990, the museum grew even bigger. A new section, the Kravis Wing, was added. It was about 70,000 square feet (6,500 m²) in size. This new area had space for special art shows. It also included a new entrance, a school for art, and a library. There was a restaurant that could seat 100 people. It also had a bigger museum shop and event areas.

The Williams Conference Center could hold 75 to 80 people. The Patti Johnson Wilson Hall was a performance space. It could seat up to 236 people. On June 14, 2013, Philbrook opened a second location. It was called Philbrook Downtown. This spot was in Tulsa's Brady Arts District.

Art Collections and Famous Artists

Philbrook Downtown had 30,000 square feet (2,800 m²) for modern, contemporary, and Native American art. You could see art by famous artists from the 1900s. These included Willem de Kooning and Georgia O'Keeffe. In 2020, the downtown location closed. It made way for the Bob Dylan Center.

The museum's main collection has art from many places. These include Europe, America, and Asia. It also has ancient art and art from Africa. The collection has grown a lot over the years. Many people have given art as gifts. For example, Clark Field gave American Indian pottery and baskets.

The museum now has works by artists like Pablo Picasso and Andrew Wyeth. The Eugene B. Adkins Collection is also important. It has Native American paintings, pottery, and jewelry. This collection is shared with the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art.

Exploring the Museum Building

The Grand Villa Philbrook Home

A gallery inside the Philbrook Museum of Art

The main entrance of Villa Philbrook

A garden view of the villa

The museum's main building is an Italian Renaissance villa. It was once the home of Waite Phillips and his wife, Genevieve. Phillips asked a famous Kansas City architect, Edward Buehler Delk, to design it in 1926. Construction finished the next year.

The house was named "Villa Philbrook." It has three stories. It was built with strong steel and concrete. This made it easy to turn into an art museum later. The outside of the house is covered in a special stucco. It has ground white marble mixed in, which makes it sparkle.

The corners of the house have special stone blocks called quoins. These are made from Kasota limestone from Minnesota. This stone looks like Italian travertine. The doors and windows are also decorated with this stonework. At the back of the house, there is a covered walkway called a loggia. It has five arches and Corinthian columns. This area looks out over the beautiful gardens. The roof has wide edges and large Italian-style tiles.

Inside the Villa's Rooms

The inside of the mansion had 72 rooms. They were decorated with fancy fireplaces and fountains made of travertine and marble. The floors were made of fine woods like teak and walnut. The ceilings were ornate, like those in Italian villas. The main rooms were on the ground floor.

The entrance hall is in the center of the house. It has a grand double staircase. This hall leads into the receiving hall. This hall has a special ceiling with painted Italian designs. It also has twisted Corinthian columns and ironwork. The receiving hall has beams and screens that look like wood but are painted plaster. There's even a large pipe organ hidden behind a tapestry.

To the left of these halls were the dining room and library. To the right were the living and music rooms. The dining and living rooms have detailed carved ceilings. The library has wood panels and a globe light fixture. This globe shows a map from the time of Leonardo da Vinci. The music room is bright and airy. It has a wall painting of flappers in Greek clothes. They show different musical speeds like scherzo and allegro.

On the right side of the house was a sunroom. On the left was the service area with the kitchen and servants' rooms. The second floor had the Phillips family's private rooms. These included four bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. There were also two guest rooms. In 1938, the Phillips family gave Villa Philbrook and its gardens to the city of Tulsa. They hoped it would be used for art and culture. The main rooms on the first floor still look much like they did. Other parts have been changed for the museum.

Exploring the Beautiful Gardens

The formal gardens at Philbrook

The museum sits on 25 acres (about 100,000 square meters) of gardens. These gardens are both formal and informal. They were first designed by Hare & Hare. The large gardens were inspired by Villa Lante. This is an Italian country estate from 1566.

The formal gardens have small streams called rills. They also have paths that connect the mansion to a rustic pool below. This pool has a classical tempietto, a small temple-like building. These parts are from the original design. To the south, the gardens extend to a summerhouse. This section was finished in 2004. It features plants native to Oklahoma and a restored creek. You can also find a bronze sculpture here. It's called Thinker on a Rock by Barry Flanagan.

How Philbrook is Managed

The museum has a team of about 60 staff members. They work hard to keep everything running smoothly. From 2007 to 2015, Randall Suffolk was the director. During his time, the museum changed how it organized its art and education. They wanted to offer more programs for families. This led to a 63 percent increase in visitors!

Randall Suffolk also helped the museum get more money to operate. He added 2,800 new art pieces to the collection. In 2016, Scott Stulen became the new Executive Director. He came from the Indianapolis Museum of Art.