Tulsa couple donates Taos masterworks to OU museum

University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren announced the donation of an important collection of Southwestern art – 12 masterworks by members of the Taos Society of Artists – to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art by Priscilla C. and Joseph N. Tate of Tulsa.

“We are appreciative that the Tates have selected the University of Oklahoma as home for their extraordinary collection of Southwestern art,” Boren said. “The Tate Collection will add another level of excitement to the opening of the new museum complex in January and will enhance the museum experience for students and visitors for years to come.”

Eric Lee, museum director, said, “The Tates’ collection of Taos artists is extremely strong with paintings of superior quality ranging from (Kenneth) Adams to (Walter) Ufer. These paintings will greatly enhance our permanent collection.”

The Tate Collection will complement the museum’s existing collection of works by the Taos Society of Artists.

The Richard H. and Adeline J. Fleischaker Collection, the museum’s first major collection of Taos art, was acquired in 1996 with initial major gifts from the late Mary Eddy Jones, the late Edith Kinney Gaylord, and Cy and Lissa Wagner. In 2003, the museum acquired the Thams Collection, 31 works by the Taos Society, given by OU alumnus William H. Thams of Midland, Texas, in memory of his wife, Roxanne.

“The Tate paintings don’t duplicate the works in either the Thams or the Fleischaker Collections, but add strength and extraordinary depth overall,” Lee said. “The museum now has three very strong collections representing the different aspects of the Taos Society of Artists. To be able to see how the artists changed during their careers will be an asset for students and visitors to the museum.”

The Taos painters were by and large academic realists, many of whom had been trained in Paris and migrated to New Mexico at the turn of the century, seeking to escape the narrowly defined tastes of art dealers in the eastern half of the United States, Lee said. After years of painting in studios, the artists were invigorated by the intense sunlight and natural beauty of the New Mexican landscape, and were equally intrigued by the American Indian cultures that flourished there, he added.

The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art closed in May 2003 for a $14 million expansion project. A 34,000-square-foot addition, named for OU benefactors Mary and Howard Lester, will open Jan. 21, more than doubling the museum’s existing space, providing new galleries, an orientation room, an auditorium and classroom space for enrichment programs.

All of the paintings in the Tate Collection will be featured in the new catalog, The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art: Selected Works, published by The University of Oklahoma Press. Publication of the 292-page catalog will coincide with the re-opening of the museum.