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Lot Essay
When Weapons of the Weak was first exhibited in 1921, a critic for the Los Angeles Times lauded, "the perfection in the composition of the mother bear, who has seized her two cubs in her arms...to defend them from the dangerous quills of an approaching fretful porcupine. What action, and what consummate skill in the delineation of bruin life and character." (as quoted in Charles M. Russell: Sculptor, p. 227)
According to a letter written by Ginger Renner, the present work is an original lifetime casting by the artist. Rick Stewart writes, "When [Homer] Britzman published his compilation of Russell Bronzes in 1949, he listed a total of eleven casts for Weapons of the Weak. Excluding the four Nelli casts made in 1942 puts the number of casts produced in Nancy Russell's lifetime at seven. Approximately ten casts of the work are known to be in public and private collections, but at least four are examples cast after Nancy Russell's death." (Charles M. Russell: Sculptor, New York, 1994, p. 228) Other examples are in the collections of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas; the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming; and the Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas.
According to a letter written by Ginger Renner, the present work is an original lifetime casting by the artist. Rick Stewart writes, "When [Homer] Britzman published his compilation of Russell Bronzes in 1949, he listed a total of eleven casts for Weapons of the Weak. Excluding the four Nelli casts made in 1942 puts the number of casts produced in Nancy Russell's lifetime at seven. Approximately ten casts of the work are known to be in public and private collections, but at least four are examples cast after Nancy Russell's death." (Charles M. Russell: Sculptor, New York, 1994, p. 228) Other examples are in the collections of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas; the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, Cody, Wyoming; and the Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas.