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Lot Essay
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1864, Charles Marion Russell came of age at a time when Buffalo Bill was fast becoming a national hero, and when the memories of such other heroes as Lewis and Clark, Zeb Pike and Kit Carson were still strong. The St. 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 immediately following 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.
Painted in 1896, Indians on the Prairie captures the essence of the West most familiar to the artist, who preferred to paint subjects he knew most intimately. During Russell's time, the nation lamented the disappearance of the Western frontier, but simultaneously believed the nations' destiny lay in the open plains. Russell, unable to change destiny, immortalized the pure Old West in images such as Indians on the Prairie. It was this symbolic import of Russell's paintings that made them extremely popular during his career and today they remain as pictorial icons of a memorable time in the history of the West.
Arthur Hoeber commented in 1911 of Russell: "He paints the west that has passed from an intimate knowledge of it; for he was there in the midst of it all, and he has the tang of its spirit in his blood. He has recorded something of the earlier days in the life of that country, of its people, of their curious ways and occupations, a life that has practically past." (as quoted in P. Hassrick, Charles M. Russell, New York, 1989, p. 101)
Painted in 1896, Indians on the Prairie captures the essence of the West most familiar to the artist, who preferred to paint subjects he knew most intimately. During Russell's time, the nation lamented the disappearance of the Western frontier, but simultaneously believed the nations' destiny lay in the open plains. Russell, unable to change destiny, immortalized the pure Old West in images such as Indians on the Prairie. It was this symbolic import of Russell's paintings that made them extremely popular during his career and today they remain as pictorial icons of a memorable time in the history of the West.
Arthur Hoeber commented in 1911 of Russell: "He paints the west that has passed from an intimate knowledge of it; for he was there in the midst of it all, and he has the tang of its spirit in his blood. He has recorded something of the earlier days in the life of that country, of its people, of their curious ways and occupations, a life that has practically past." (as quoted in P. Hassrick, Charles M. Russell, New York, 1989, p. 101)