National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum
1700 Northeast 63rd Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73111 (405) 478-2250 www.nationalcowboymuseum.org
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City is America’s premier institution of Western history, art and culture. Founded in 1955, the museum collects, preserves and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of Western art and artifacts while sponsoring dynamic educational programs to promote interest in the enduring legacy of the American West.
The William S. and Ann Atherton Art of the American West gallery contains outstanding examples of art from the likes of Albert Bierstadt, Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell, W. R. Leigh and Charles Schreyvogel. The Silberman Gallery features exhibitions focusing on the museum’s Native American fine art collection, many derived from the Arthur & Shifra Silberman Native American Art Collection acquired by the museum in 1996. The museum has also acquired the Prix de West award winner for its Prix de West gallery each year since 1973, resulting in a collection of paintings and sculptures by some of the finest contemporary Western artists.
“The fact that our Prix de West Invitational Exhibition and Sale is in its 47th year and Traditional Cowboy Arts Exhibition and Sale is in its 21st year is a testament to the enduring appeal of Western art in all its forms,” says Michael Grauer, Mccasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art.
Opening August 30, the museum’s Colors of Clay exhibition will explore the cultural and regional diversity of indigenous ceramic vessel traditions in North America. Vibrantly colored and sculpted with absolute precision, clay pots, bowls, pitchers and jars were a dominant fixture of Native American daily life and are today viewed as one of the most notable Native American art forms. From the Eastern Woodlands to the arid Southwest, these vessels continue to evolve, yet maintain a traditional aesthetic unique to this part of the world.