Robert S. Kerr

by Charles Banks Wilson

Robert Samuel Kerr was Oklahoma’s first native-born governor and in 1948 was the first Oklahoma governor to be elected to the U.S. Senate. His first bill in Congress created the Arkansas, White and Red River Study Commission, which was the planning stage for the land and water development in this region.  This eventually led to the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation Project, a series of 17 locks and dams making the waterway navigable from the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa in Northeastern Oklahoma to the Gulf of Mexico. He also worked for the conservation of other natural resources in Oklahoma and the nation. The Saturday Evening Post published an article about him titled “The Uncrowned King of the Senate.” With family in the oil business, Kerr and Dean McGee established the internationally known energy company, Kerr-McGee Corporation.

Commissioned by the Oklahoma State Legislature, Charles Banks Wilson completed this life-size portrait of Kerr in 1963 for the state capitol rotunda. Wilson utilizes 40 feet of canvas to immortalize the man whose is remembered as “The Modern Father of Oklahoma.” Wilson yearned to paint the great politician for Wilson recall “fallen under the spell of his oratory.”  Wilson’s painting exudes symbolism. One of the statues on his desk represents Kerr’s love for his farm and cattle he raised there. Scraps of paper stick out of the Bible that rests on his desk marking the scriptures that Kerr includes in his eloquent speeches. The large map behind Kerr represents the senator’s dream to develop the Arkansas River and her tributaries.

Robert S. Kerr by Charles Banks Wilson is located in the rotunda area on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol and can be viewed daily from 8:30-5:30.

The Artist

When Charles Banks Wilson was born in 1918, his father was overseas fighting in World War I and his mother was visiting her parents in Arkansas.  Despite the events surrounding his birth, Wilson grew up in Miami, Oklahoma, and today considers himself an Oklahoma native.  Wilson’s thirst for art was reflected at an early age when he began drawing on virtually any flat and/or empty space including on the bottom of drawers, backs of pictures, and even under tables.  In grade school, Wilson appeared in nine school plays and expressed his desire to be an actor.  This notion changed however, under the influence of his father Charles B. Wilson – a professional trombone player.  In the fifth grade Wilson began playing the trumpet, a hobby he would continue throughout high school. 

At this point in his education, Wilson took up drawing again.  He started decorating various notebooks and blackboards in an attempt to improve his grades.  His strategy proved successful, as after graduation Wilson was able to enroll at the Art Institute of Chicago.  At the Art Institute, Wilson began a project whereupon he sketched portraits of numerous members of Oklahoma Indian tribes – a project that would soon become a lifelong artistic journey.  While in Chicago, Wilson was also given an award from the Chicago Society of Lithographers and Etchers, and his work was added to the Art Institute collection as well.

In 1941, Wilson completed his education at the Art Institute.  Afterwards during his return to Oklahoma, he attended a stomp dance fire at a Quapaw pow wow.  Here he met Quapaw Indian Princess, Edna McKibben, the very woman Wilson would later marry the following year.  Next, Wilson was called to New York City with a commission from the Associated American Artists.  Here he illustrated his first book, The Hill, exhibited a portrait of his wife in a National Academy show, and had his “Freedom’s Warrior” lithograph shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

During the late 1940s, Wilson was kept busy with three one-man shows which took place at the Oklahoma City Art Center, the Amarillo Tri State Fair, and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C.  Wilson also continued illustrating; working on over five books including Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, and completing a series of Will Rogers national calendars.  Perhaps one of his greatest achievements came when the United States Senate selected four of Wilson’s paintings to be shown in 20 world capitals.

Commissioned by the Oklahoma State Legislature, Wilson completed life-size portraits of Will Rogers, Sequoyah, and Senator Robert S. Kerr in 1963 for the state capitol rotunda.  These portraits were so successful that they led to a second commission in 1966 for a similar style portrait of Indian athlete, Jim Thorpe.  The portrait was unveiled one year later by Elmer Manatwa, Chief of the Sac and Fox Indians, and celebrated with a large Indian pow wow on capitol grounds.  Merely three years after, Wilson was commissioned yet again by the Oklahoma Legislature to complete four major murals depicting Oklahoma history for the state capitol – thus cementing his legacy as an Oklahoma Art treasure.  Wilson has since been awarded with the Governor’s Art Award and inclusion into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.