Showcase of a six-decade career, vibrant color, and innovation awaits visitors
OKLAHOMA CITY (November 20, 2025) — Paul Reed: A Retrospective will open at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (OKCMOA) this Saturday, November 22. Guest curated by David Gariff, PhD, senior lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, the exhibition is the first of its kind dedicated to the artist.
“As the definitive home of Paul Reed’s work, we’re proud to be opening this first major retrospective,” said OKCMOA President and CEO Michael Anderson, PhD. “As we celebrate Reed’s commitment to his practice and his impact on the postwar landscape of American art, we invite visitors to learn more about an artist who has largely been overlooked in the Washington Color School narrative.”
Paul Reed: A Retrospective utilizes over half of the Museum’s third floor and moves chronologically through Reed’s career. In the first section, visitors will see a selection of Reed’s early work, including a self-portrait from 1938, as well as still-life studies in the styles of artists Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso. As visitors move through the exhibition, they’ll encounter Reed’s emerging original style in such series as Upstart and Mandala. Continuing through Reed’s mid-career years are examples of his shaped canvases, several of which are large scale, including one that measures fourteen feet tall, as well as sculpture, and his 1970s foray into screenprinting. The final section, highlighting Reed’s late career, takes visitors from works created in his large studio space to ones made in his home in Arlington, VA. These smaller-scale works include gouache on paper, photo collages, and paintings, many of which carry through themes from previous series while continuing to incorporate Reed’s penchant for experimentation and exploration. Vibrant colors, visual harmony, and evidence of Reed’s embrace of new tools and innovative techniques—such as staining raw canvas with the then-new acrylic paint Magna—can be found throughout the exhibition.
As visitors exit Paul Reed: A Retrospective, they will find themselves in the installation The Legacy of the Washington Color School. This gallery will give visitors deeper context into the Washington Color School movement and its lasting impact through works by the first and second generation, including artist Mokha Laget, who studied with Reed when he taught at the Corcoran College of Art and Design.
An extensive programming schedule will accompany Paul Reed: A Retrospective, including classes, tours, and Drop-In Art activities. Programs are expected to sell out, so early registration is encouraged. A complete list can be found at okcmoa.com.
Paul Reed: A Retrospective will run through April 12, 2026. Museum members receive free entry to the exhibition, as well as discounts on programming. For more information, please visit okcmoa.com/membership.
