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Lot Essay
Born in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1864, Charles Marion Russell came of age during what was perhaps the most fascinating period in America's history. It was the time when Buffalo Bill was fast becoming a national hero, and the memories of such other heroes as Lewis and Clark, Zeb Pike and Kit Carson were still strong. The Saint Louis waterfront was active with boats coming and going, and the slogan "Go West young man" was well known in every household.
The young Russell's adventurous nature was stoked by his first trip West. Russell's father sent him to Montana just after his sixteenth birthday, hoping that his son would be cured of his romantic notions of the West. Instead, "Kid Russell," as he was soon called, became completely absorbed in the local life, working for the next seven years as a horse wrangler and night herder. During this time, he carried his watercolors in his bedroll so that he could paint whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Harold McCracken has written: "A ragged jester and good fellow of the roundup camp, Charlie Russell lived and loved the life of the toughest profession of the early pioneer era in the West. Fate cast him in the incongruous role of artist and poet--a role forced upon him by some inescapable destiny and which for a good many years he seems not to have taken quite seriously. Self-taught, unschooled, and entirely unorthodox in every respect, he was to become one of the most distinguished personalities in the field of western documentary art." (The Charles M. Russell Book, Garden City, New York, 1957, p. 14)
Rainy Morning demonstrates Russell's true love for the West, both in his keen observation of the minute details of the cowpuncher's life, and in his ability to capture the heroism that he encountered every day on the frontier. In 1970 John Willard wrote the following of Rainy Morning: "Discomfort was an everyday companion of the working cowpuncher, and Russell has expertly depicted the cold, driving rain, the clammy mud and leaden skies in the roundup camp. Wind bedevils the cook's breakfast fire and dripping horses shy from the blanket, while disgusted cowpunchers rise from damp blankets and pull on damper boots. Detail is remarkable, even down to the historic 'fish' brand on the yellow slicker in the foreground, keeping the saddle dry. N-N is the brand of one of Montana's most famous ranches." (The Charles M. Rusell Book, Seattle, Washington, 1970, p. 33)
Rainy Morning was first reproduced and issued as a color print in 1908 under the title Rainy Morning in a Cow Camp; in 1911 it was reproduced again in R. Sivell's Voices from the Range. Indeed, its extensive publication history, both during the artist's lifetime and after, forms an impressive testament to the work's universal appeal.
The young Russell's adventurous nature was stoked by his first trip West. Russell's father sent him to Montana just after his sixteenth birthday, hoping that his son would be cured of his romantic notions of the West. Instead, "Kid Russell," as he was soon called, became completely absorbed in the local life, working for the next seven years as a horse wrangler and night herder. During this time, he carried his watercolors in his bedroll so that he could paint whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Harold McCracken has written: "A ragged jester and good fellow of the roundup camp, Charlie Russell lived and loved the life of the toughest profession of the early pioneer era in the West. Fate cast him in the incongruous role of artist and poet--a role forced upon him by some inescapable destiny and which for a good many years he seems not to have taken quite seriously. Self-taught, unschooled, and entirely unorthodox in every respect, he was to become one of the most distinguished personalities in the field of western documentary art." (The Charles M. Russell Book, Garden City, New York, 1957, p. 14)
Rainy Morning demonstrates Russell's true love for the West, both in his keen observation of the minute details of the cowpuncher's life, and in his ability to capture the heroism that he encountered every day on the frontier. In 1970 John Willard wrote the following of Rainy Morning: "Discomfort was an everyday companion of the working cowpuncher, and Russell has expertly depicted the cold, driving rain, the clammy mud and leaden skies in the roundup camp. Wind bedevils the cook's breakfast fire and dripping horses shy from the blanket, while disgusted cowpunchers rise from damp blankets and pull on damper boots. Detail is remarkable, even down to the historic 'fish' brand on the yellow slicker in the foreground, keeping the saddle dry. N-N is the brand of one of Montana's most famous ranches." (The Charles M. Rusell Book, Seattle, Washington, 1970, p. 33)
Rainy Morning was first reproduced and issued as a color print in 1908 under the title Rainy Morning in a Cow Camp; in 1911 it was reproduced again in R. Sivell's Voices from the Range. Indeed, its extensive publication history, both during the artist's lifetime and after, forms an impressive testament to the work's universal appeal.