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Charles Banks Wilson offset litho print of Will Rogers. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Dirk Soulis Auctions.

Will Rogers museum to exhibit Charles Banks Wilson works

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf
Charles Banks Wilson offset litho print of Will Rogers. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Dirk Soulis Auctions.
Charles Banks Wilson offset litho print of Will Rogers. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Dirk Soulis Auctions.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A permanent exhibit of works by artist Charles Banks Wilson is set to open by next month at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum in Claremore.

The exhibit will feature various portraits Wilson created of Rogers. Wilson, who died last May in Arkansas at age 94, was just a boy when he first saw Rogers at the Coleman Theatre in Miami, Okla.

That encounter led to Wilson’s lifelong fascination with the American humorist. One of Wilson’s portraits of Oklahoma’s favorite son is on permanent display at Smithsonian Institution’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

But Rogers wasn’t Wilson’s only subject. Wilson also created portraits of other famous Oklahomans, including Cherokee Indian Sequoyah, Olympic gold medalist Jim Thorpe and Congressman Carl Albert, among others. Several of the portraits adorn the state Capitol.

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AP-WF-01-03-14 1850GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Charles Banks Wilson offset litho print of Will Rogers. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Dirk Soulis Auctions.
Charles Banks Wilson offset litho print of Will Rogers. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Dirk Soulis Auctions.