Charles M. Russell



According to Frederick G. Renner “The great mobility of the Plains Indians was one of the reasons why the United States Army needed twenty-five years and over a thousand separate battles to subdue them. General Crook once noted in an official report that a band of Sioux Indians with their families could travel fifty miles a day, living off the country and keeping scouts advanced from twenty to fifty miles in all directions. With the Indians leaders fully informed of the movements and strength of the army forces, they were able to avoid conflict or to pick the time and place of battle.

“The scout…may have come across the tracks of an enemy column and is sending a message back to his companions. The fact that he is making no attempt at concealment suggests the enemy is not in sight.”

Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926) was many things: consummate Westerner, historian, advocate of the Northern Plains Indians, cowboy, outdoorsman, writer, philosopher, environmentalist, conservationist, and not least, artist. Born in St. Louis, Russell dreamed of being a cowboy, living the exciting life of men on the range. Russell came to the Judith Basin of Montana in 1880 a few days after his 16th birthday. Working briefly tending sheep, he realized that his dreams of the West were not to be fulfilled in this manner. He soon teamed up with a local hunter, Jake Hoover, with whom he spent two years sharing a cabin on the South Fork of the Judith River. Shortly thereafter, Russell became a night wrangler for the Judith Basin Roundup.

This was exactly what Russell the child had dreamed of, and what Russell the adult wanted and needed. It gave him time to observe the cowboys at work during the day, and to sketch and document all the activities and excitement of the cow camp. He continued to work as a cowboy and wrangler for 11 years before retiring to become a full-time artist. At which time, he married Nancy Cooper in 1896, they moved to Great Falls, Montana, where they established their home and studio, which they occupied until Russell’s death in 1926. 

During Russell’s lifetime he became the “Darling” of the upper echelon of society ranging from New York money magnets including Rockefeller and others, the Hollywood scene of William H. Hart, Will Rogers, Douglas Fairbanks Sr., and Mary Pickford, plus many more society elites of his time. During his lifetime he became the highest paid living artist.

Depicting the Old West through his paintings, (oils and watercolors), his clay models and bronzes, plus his illustrated letters, Russell, as well as, Frederick Remington, became the icons of the Western art market, representing the transition of the Old West of the 19^th – early 20^th Century. 

His works are in great demand and are represented in museums from the Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Oklahoma, The Charles M. Russell Institute, Norman, Oklahoma, The Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, and The Buffalo Bill Museum, Cody, Wyoming, to name a few. Additionally, he is coveted and owned by many private collections throughout the country.