Charles Marion Russell

Art was always a part of Russell's life. Growing up in Missouri, he drew sketches and made clay figures of animals. Russell had an intense interest in the "wild west" and would spend hours reading about it. Russell would watch explorers and fur traders who frequently came through Missouri. He learned to ride horses at Hazel Dell Farm near Jerseyville, Illinois, on a famous Civil War horse named Great Britain. Russell's instructor was Col. William H. Fulkerson, who had married into the Russell family. At the age of sixteen, Russell left school and went to Montana to work on a sheep ranch. == Montana and the West ==

Russell left the sheep ranch and found work with Jake Hoover, a hunter and trapper who had become a rancher. He owned land in the Judith Basin of Central Montana. Russell learned much about the ways of the West from him, and the two men remained lifelong friends. After a brief visit in 1882 to his family in Missouri, Russell returned to Montana, and lived and worked there for the remainder of his life. He worked as a cowboy for a number of outfits, and documented the harsh winter of 1886–1887 in a number of watercolors. Scholars believe that he gained much of his intimate knowledge of Native American culture during this period. In 1913, Russell painted Wild Horse Hunters, which depicts riders capturing wild horses, each band of which is dominated by a stallion. He used as much color as an artist could on his mountain landscapes. As an artist, Russell emerged at a time when the Wild West was of intense interest to people who lived in cities, and cattle drives were still being conducted over long distances. He painted images of the Old West that were later adopted by Westerns, which became a movie staple. Russell was fond of these popular art forms and made many friends among the well-off collectors of his works, including actors and film makers such as William S. Hart, Harry Carey, Will Rogers, and Douglas Fairbanks. Russell also kept up with fellow artists of the West, including painter Edgar Samuel Paxson, painter Edward "Ed" Borein, illustrator and painter Maynard Dixon and Will Crawford the illustrator. On the day of Russell's funeral in 1926, the children in Great Falls were released from school so they could watch the funeral procession. Russell's coffin was displayed in a glass-sided coach, pulled by four black horses. Russell produced about 4,000 works of art, including oil and watercolor paintings, drawings and sculptures in wax, clay, plaster and other materials, some of which were also cast in bronze. == Depictions of Charles Marion Russell ==

File:Charles M. Russell.jpg|Portrait by A.O. Gregory File:MVI 2799 Russell in studio at Amon Carter Museum.jpg|Russell working in his studio in Great Falls, Montana File:CMR MacKay.jpg|C. M. Russell statue by John Weaver; Identical statues are held in the National Statuary Hall Collection and by the Montana Historical Society. File:CMR and Friends.jpg|C. M. Russell and his friends. A detail of the picture was used for a Montana U.S. Postage Stamp in 1989. File:CMR Xmas greeting.jpg|Self-portrait with Christmas greeting, 1914 == Tributes ==

A collection of short stories called Trails Plowed Under was published a year after his death. In 1960, Charles M. Russell Elementary School was built in Missoula, Montana. In 1965, a high school was built on the north side of the Missouri River in Great Falls, Montana and named Charles M. Russell High School, in honor of Russell. Ian Tyson's 1987 album, Cowboyography, includes a song titled "The Gift" telling the story of Russell. Michael Nesmith, of Monkees fame, recorded a song titled "Laugh Kills Lonesome" which was inspired by, and describes the contents of, a well-known Russell painting of the same name. Native Blackfeet folk singer Jack Gladstone wrote a song dedicated to Russell titled "When the Land Belonged to God." The song describes Russell's painting of the same name. In 1985, Russell was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in New York. In 1991, Russell was inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame. Some of Russell's paintings were shown during the credits of the ABC television series How the West Was Won, starring James Arness. James McDowell Sr. of Tulsa, Oklahoma donated 24 volumes of his illustrations to the Western History Collections at the University of Oklahoma in 1997. Russell was inducted into the inaugural class of the Montana Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2014. He is honored at the Stockmen's Memorial in Cochrane, Alberta, Canada. The Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge is named for Russell, a World War II Liberty Ship, SS Charles M. Russell, was named in his honor and launched in 1943 in Portland, Oregon. The Bull Head Lodge and Studio, located off Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, was Russell's summer home, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. == Auction ==

, Fort Worth Russell's Piegans sold in 2005 for $5.6 million, more than double the highest price his work had sold for a few years earlier. At auction in 2008, Russell's oil painting The Hold Up (20 Miles to Deadwood) sold for $5.2 million, and his bronze sculpture Buffalo Hunt (which depicted two Native Americans attacking a running bison) sold for $4.1 million. Russell's 1911 by bronze sculpture, Bronc Twister, auctioned in 2008 for $805,000—far above the $300,000 pre-auction estimate. In July 2011, the price of Russell's work soared again. His 1892 oil painting Water for Camp (depicting Native American women dipping pots into a stream) and his 1924 watercolor A Dangerous Sport (in which two cowboys lasso a mountain lion) sold for nearly $1.5 million each. == Notable works ==

Russell's works comprised a wide variety of topics, including major historical events and everyday life in the west. His work was noted for the frequency with which he portrayed well-known events from the point of view of Native American people instead of the non-Native viewpoint. He was noted for a keen eye on the social undercurrents of society and the meticulous authenticity with which he portrayed the clothing and equipment of both cowboys and Native people. Historians studying women's roles in the West have critiqued Russell's portrayal of women. They note the contrasting levels of sensuality in his depictions of white and native women, as he seemed to transfer sexuality from white to Native women, so as to conform to the moral standards and perceptions of women in his time. Most of Russell's portrayals of white women are shown as "pure" and non-sexual, other than those paintings specifically depicting prostitutes. In contrast, his series of five Keeoma paintings and related images show a sensual native woman. They are documented by the statement that Keeoma was a real woman whom Russell had loved. Photographs exist that show the body model for these images was Russell's wife, Nancy. Cowboy life File:LaughKillsLonesome.jpg|Laugh Kills Lonesome, oil on canvas, 1925. Along with Bronc to Breakfast and In Without Knocking, arguably the most famous of Russell's "cowboy" paintings. File:Bronc Breakfast web.jpg|Bronc to Breakfast, oil, 1908 File:Charles_Marion_Russell_–_In_Without_Knocking_–_Google_Art_Project.jpg|In Without Knocking 1909 File:Russell Loops and Swift Horses are Surer than Lead 1916.jpg|Loops and Swift Horses are Surer than Lead, 1916 File:HerdQuit.jpg|The Herd Quitter, oil on canvas, 1897 File:Roundup2CMR.jpg|Roundup #2, oil 1913 File:Cowpunching Sometimes Spells Trouble.jpg|Cowpunching Sometimes Spells Trouble, 1889, Oil on canvas, Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas File:When Cowboys Get in Trouble (The Mad Cow).jpg|When Cowboys Get in Trouble (The Mad Cow), 1899, Oil on canvas, Sid Richardson Museum, Fort Worth, Texas File:Deer in Forest (White Tailed Deer).jpg|Deer in Forest (White Tailed Deer), 1917, Oil on canvasboard File:Chinook2.gif|Waiting for a Chinook, also known as Last of the 5000. One of several depictions of the winter of 1886–87 File:Flying hoofs - Charles M Russell (1894).jpg|Flying hoofs, 1894 File:To The Victor Belongs The Spoils by Charles Marion Russell.jpg|To The Victor Belongs The Spoils Historical events File:Indians DiscoveringLC.jpg|The Indians discovering Lewis and Clark. Russell depicted various stages of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in a number of works. File:Lewis_and_clark-expedition.jpg|Lewis and Clark on the Lower Columbia. File:Charles Marion Russell - The Custer Fight (1903).jpg|The Custer Fight (lithograph, 1903). Depicts the Battle of the Little Bighorn from the point of view of the Native American combatants. == See also ==