Claremore--A 1946 bigger than life-size painting of Will Rogers by the late Tulsa World artist Clarence Canning Allen has been returned to Oklahoma and soon will go on exhibit at Claremore's Will Rogers Memorial Museum.
Donated to the museum by Todd Vradenburg of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation, a California charity, the painting was formally unveiled in New York November 22, 1950 by the then president of Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp., Spyros P. Skouras, capturing a two-column photo in the staid New York Times.
Will Rogers starred in 21 hit motion pictures at the Fox studio and the New York Times was the "flagship" publisher of the nearly 4,000 syndicated newspaper columns written by the Oklahoma cowboy humorist/philosopher during the 1920s and 30s.
"It is a sensational painting that will greatly enhance Oklahoma's crusade to keep alive the memory, the incredible wit, the enriching philosophy and sorely needed role model of Will Rogers," Jim Hartz, former Today Show host and chair of the state's Will Rogers Memorial Commission, said.
"Almost of three dimensional quality, Allen's painting reaches up to a quarter of an inch thickness," said Michelle Lefebvre-Carter, director of the museum. "Described as being executed in impasto medium, it is a rare and invaluable homecoming gift for Oklahoma."
Lefebvre-Carter said a date for unveiling the fine art work has not been decided.
For many years, the painting hung at the Will Rogers Memorial Hospital in Saranac Lake, New York. When it arrived in Oklahoma, Lefebvre-Carter commissioned Scott Perryman of Ziegler’s Art & Frame in Tulsa to perform restoration and reframing of the 60-year-old painting.
A Georgia native and graduate of Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Allen was a newspaper artist-cartoonist for 39 years. He died in Tulsa in 1989 at the age of 91. He was the last founding charter member of the National Cartoonist Society.
Winner of six Freedom Foundation Awards, Allen moved to Tulsa in 1929 to help found the Tulsa World art department. His late brother, Tom-Chris Allen, was the paper's promotion manager.
His obituary reported that Allen's other fine art paintings were exhibited at Tulsa's Philbrook and at shows in Italy, Montreal and New York. He executed sketches of Tulsa churches and published a "Who's Who in Tulsa" biographic work. Numerous conceptual drawings of prominent structures in Tulsa were attributed to Allen. Three presidential libraries house other works.
In 1946, a magazine quoted Allen as saying "the plan of rendering the portrait was a difficult problem. It must be strong in color and power to be appreciated at a distance far greater than that of a drawing room or gallery.
"It must be handled in a style that would satisfy the most curious as to the visible character of the man," Allen told Oklahoma Round-up magazine.
Will Rogers was described by Allen as a "simple, natural and pleasing personality.
"He was a Western out-door man, a showman, radio man, after dinner speaker, columnist, diplomat...
"He was part Cherokee which makes him probably the only one hundred percent Great All-American of his generation. Therefore, red, white and blue was chosen as color schemes for the painting.
"Any one of a number of backgrounds might well have been appropriate," Allen said, "but all were ignored for Will Rogers was so dynamic that no one was conscious of his unpressed clothes, twisted tie or whether he was on the stage, screen or radio.
"It was the man himself, Will Rogers, that captivated," Allen said.
Will Rogers, 1879-1935, was born two miles from what would become Oologah. He died in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska along with Oklahoma aviator Wiley Post during a trip that the pair hoped would end in Moscow after a trans-polar flight.
Rogers is entombed with his family at the nine-gallery Claremore museum which, along with his 400-acre living history ranch near Oologah, are open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, 365 days a year. Both are state-funded icons without admission charges.
The painting donor, Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation of Toluca Lake, California., finances extensive lung disease research; aids movie workers in time of need and was a principal donor in publishing Volumes IV and V of The Papers of Will Rogers by the University of Oklahoma Press that were edited by M. Jane Johansson and Steven K. Gragert of Rogers State University.