Charles Marion Russell: The Life and Legacy of the Wild West s Most Prolific Artist (Paperback)

*Includes pictures *Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts *Includes a bibliography for further reading The exploration of the early American West beginning with Lewis and Clark s transcontinental trek at the behest of President Thomas Jefferson was not accomplished by standing armies the era s new steam train technology or by way of land grabs. These came later but not until pathways known only to a few of the land s indigenous people were discovered carved out and charted in an area stretching from the eastern Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean and the present-day borders of Mexico and Canada. Even the great survey parties such as Colonel William Powell s exploration of the Colorado River came decades later. The first views of the West s enormity by white Americans were seen by individuals of an entirely different personality in an era that could only exist apart from its home civilization. Naturally the West was an endless source of fascination for those who were either personally or circumstantially ill-suited to travel there. As explorers opened trails and people expanded the frontier unusual walks of life like cattle drives and hunting became commonplace as did images of dusty boomtowns. Before the Transcontinental Railroad connected the Atlantic and Pacific the Old West possessed a distinctly separate culture from the East Coast and cowboys early settlers and an enormous array of indigenous peoples produced a hybrid culture that seemed doomed to disappear as a result of the inevitable modernization. Many of the first artists in the West were assigned to exploration and geological parties working as archivists and obedient to demands of cold accuracy. However a few were driven by an imaginative mix of real events and fantastical visions to whet the appetite of Eastern consumers and preserve their own nostalgia on canvas. Among the most prominent artists depicting the old West was Charles Marion Russell a prolific painter sculptor writer and storyteller based in the heart of the Montana country. Through his years of capturing scenes of daily life between cowboys and Indians before a backdrop of exquisite Montana scenery he was known by the names of C.M. Russell Charlie Russell and Kid Russell. As an artist greatly esteemed among art devotees and virtually all Westerners who knew him he acquired monikers such as the Rembrandt of the Range and the Cowboy Artist. Entirely self-trained Russell left over 4 000 works that include paintings and bronze sculptures of cowboys Indians and the landscapes of the West as well as Alberta Canada. As an advocate and activist for the Native Americans he supported the improvement of reservation conditions and spoke out for the Chippewa s bid for the right to live in Montana. This right was validated by Congress in the early 20th century with the creation of the Rocky Boy Reservation. Russell sketched and painted throughout his life defying the constrictions of a daily work regimen but he aspired to work primarily as a cowboy for many years with the understandable assumption that his art would never provide a sustainable living. A fortuitous marriage launched Russell into international art circles and it brought him a level of wealth never anticipated by the would-be cattle wrangler. By the end of the 19th century the West had diminished as a cultural entity and rapidly lapsed into a geographical concept attempting to conform itself to the ways of the East. Russell s vast body of work served as an eternal commentary on the passing of an epic American experience. With few to mark the West s lingering death Russell served not only as an artist evoki