Since my first Museum stop (1st-of-3!) opens at 10, I don't have to leave the Super 8 until 8:30, so a relaxing early morning doing the blog, directions, and TMMB email invitations. This "early morning time in the room" allows me to listen to some of my quieter music - this morning it's Joni Mitchel - Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, 1977.
Hey - I LOVE OKLAHOMA HIGHWAYS!!:
My 1st stop is the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, OK:
They have a beautiful collection - highlights include:
Thomas Moran - An Angry Sea, 1887
Thomas Moran - Grand Canyon, 1907
Thomas Moran - Venice, 1911
one of the best Worthington Whittredge paintings I have ever seen - Morning in the Woods, c. 1868-1875
There is a whole (small) room devoted to the Wyeth family - N.C, Andrew and Jamie.
Andrew Wyeth - Boarding Party, 1984
Andrew Wyeth - Barn Cats, no date
As I left Tulsa, I felt a little weight lift off my shoulders - maybe it was a feeling of freedom. I was now heading NORTH and WEST. My farthest destinations this trip would be 700 miles north and 950 miles west - LET'S GO!
The hill country of Oklahoma really is nice:
The Woolaroc Museum & Wildlife Preserve in Bartlesville, OK is the former home of Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum Company. The Wildlife Preserve is FUN:
And the art in the Museum is wonderful. Highlights include:
Albert Bierstadt - Mount Corcoran, Southern Sierra, Nevada, 1863
Thomas Moran - Ruins of an Old Church, Cuernavaca, ?1903
John Scott - High Country, 1984
I was able to meet and chat with Linda Stone, their Curator of Art (we had exchanged emails back in January 2015). She liked my enthusiasm, but bemoaned the fact that a WONDERFUL Thomas Moran, which had been on loan to them for 30 years, had recently been sold by the owners:
Thomas Moran - Green River of Wyoming
It was a big one - 2 feet high by 4 feet wide!
A description of the May 21, 2008 sale at Christie's:
The auction was led by Thomas Moran’s monumental American West landscape Green River of Wyoming, which realized a remarkable $17.74 million, more than doubling the previous record for a 19th century American painting. One of the earliest of his acclaimed oils depicting the Green River, it sold in the room to American art dealers Avery Galleries, from Bryn Mawr, PA. The pre-sale estimate for the painting was $3.5 to $5 million, and the previous record for a 19th century American painting was John Singer Sargent's Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife that fetched $8.8 million in 2004.
and, as a side note, I have not been able to locate it for my app.
Back out on the Oklahoma road:
Up in Wichita, Kansas, the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University was closed:
no mention of it was on their website; and no one replied to my email. At least I got to see a LARGE piece by Joan Miró - Personnages Oiseaux (Bird People), 1977–78
Another 285 miles/4 hours north and west on I-70 to the Super 8 in Colby, Kansas - checked in a little after 7. Thank you God for this lovely adventure day!
Music for today was albums from my purple nano:
various artists - Music from the OC: Mix 1, 2004
various artists - Music from the OC: Mix 2, 2004
various artists - Music from the OC: Mix 5, 2005
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto, 2011
which, by the way, is GREAT listening to LOUD, with the WINDOWS ROLLED DOWN!
Then because I'm heading into Wichita:
Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays - As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls, 1981
Jackson Browne - The Naked Ride Home, 2002
Joe Jackson - Night and Day, 1982
various artists - No Nukes: The M.U.S.E Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future, 1979 (triple live album = 2 cds)
There were multiple shows over multiple nights at Madison Square Garden - September 19-23, 1979. Wendy and I saw the show that had BRUCE (and Jackson Browne), and the crowd WENT WILD when Clarence sang "... All The Time." in "Stay (just a little bit longer)".
