Western Wednesday: Charles M. Russell

 

Growing up in Montana you grow up with Charlie Russell. He is the lens through which Montanans see the history and meaning of the place they live.

Off the top of my head, I cannot think of another painter (with the possible exception of Grant Wood, though to a much lesser extent) that is so… synonymous… with one state. To visit Montana and not to go to see either the Charles M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, the Russell collection at the Montana Historical Society in Helena, or the giant mural of “Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross Hole” (featured above) at the Montana State capital building is to never have visited the state at all.

Russell, outside of Montana and “western-art” circles, remains very much under-appreciated. The same artistic biases that relegate western fiction and western movies to a kind of secondary aesthetic status impact also how Russell and fellow western artists like Remington are studied and collected. There is, after all, no greater blindness than that of aesthetic pride.

Today on Western Wednesday, we feature a number of Charles M. Russell paintings –representative of his “cowboys & indians art”– and two links to the aforementioned Charles M. Russell museums.

Enjoy!

Charles M. Russell Museum in Great Falls

Charles M. Russell Collection at the Montana Historical Society in Helena

 

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Daily Blog, Montana & Western Themes Charles Russell, Montana, western art