Charles M. Russell - (1864-1926)
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I. Biography Known as the Cowboy Artist, Charles M. Russell is one the most talented artists of the West. He was born on March 19, 1864, in the outskirts of St. Louis to Mary
Elizabeth Mead and Charles Silas Russell. With four brothers and one sister Russell would often slip off unnoticed when he was young. He once followed a man
with a trained bear far away from his home. When his parents finally found him and brought him home, he took the mud from the bottom of this shoes and molded a little bear
of his own. His artistic abilities and free spirit began to show at a very young age. He would draw on the steps in his home and when his schooling began; he would take clay
from a river bottom and mold it under his desk, where neither his teacher nor Russell could see what he was creating. He always carried a lump of clay or beeswax with him so that
when he saw something interesting he would make a quick mold of it so that he could paint it later. His natural artistic abilities came from his mother, who was also a talented artist. At
the age of 12, he entered a county fair and won several blue ribbons for his paintings. Although he was very talented, his years in school were a very different story.
Russell hated school and could never pay attention to his studies. He would often skip school to go and listen to old men tell tall tails of their time in the West. His grades
dropped and he was such a prankster that his parents had to send him to military school hoping it would teach him some discipline. Russell continued to play pranks on his
commanding officers and was soon kicked out of the school entirely. He wanted to be a cowboy and go to the Wild West, so in 1880, when he turned 16, his parents sent him to
the Montana Territory with a family friend, Pike Miller. Montana would not become a state for another nine years but already the West was dying
out. When Russell arrived in Montana, he had to take a stagecoach to Helena. While on the coach he sat up by the driver and the driver, knowing that Russell was a newcomer,
asked him where he was from. Russell replied St. Louis and the driver warned him never to tell anyone where he was from because in Helena they would hang anyone from St. Louis.
Russell completely fell for the joke and never told anyone where he was really from. When he finally arrived in Helena, he bought a mare and a gelding; he soon sold the mare and
bought a brown and white pinto, from Blackfeet Indians, that he named Monte. Monte was his favorite horse and they were together for 25 years. His unique personality even
showed through in his style of dress. He would not wear a belt or suspenders, instead he wore a type of sash, which was the trademark style he wore throughout his years, even at
formal occasions. On the way to Pike's ranch, Russell was riding far ahead of Pike when a group of shrieking Indians came racing over a nearby hill. When they reached the two men
the Indians laughed and said to Russell, "White papoose, much afraid." They warned Russell to stay closer to his partner in case real enemies happened to come. This would
not be Russell's last meeting with Indians; they would soon be a large part of Russell's life. When the two men arrived at Pike's ranch, Russell was given the job of sheepherder; not
exactly a cowboy but at least he had made it to the West. He would often draw while watching the sheep to keep from becoming bored, but while he was drawing, the sheep
wondered away. Russell finally found them and brought them back but Pike was incredibly angry and soon after the two went their own ways. Alone to fend for himself, he camped
near an old trapper. The trapper, Jack Hoover, came over and asked Russell if he had any food or money, when Russell replied no Jake shared his food with the young man who had
nothing. The trapper fascinated Russell and while they ate, Jack listened to Russell's dreams of being a cowboy. He liked Russell so much that he invited him to stay at his
cabin until he could make it on his own. Russell ended up staying for two years doing odd end jobs around the cabin. Russell's description of Jake was, "He had no more fear of a
bear than I would have of a milk cow." He finally earned enough money to go home, but he could only stay away for a few weeks. This saddened his parents who had hoped that
Russell would have gotten over his cowboy fantasy by now and come home to help run the family business. Russell could not be stopped and this time he returned with his
cousin, who was also 18. His cousin came down with Rocky Mountain spotted fever and died only a few weeks after arriving. II. Russell, the painter
Alone again Russell was soon hired as a night wrangler. His job was to watch the livestock at night and keep them together when they were out on the range. He would
often sing to the cattle and admire the stars in the big sky as he worked. During the days, he would spend his time painting. He would give the paintings to the other wranglers and
was liked by everyone in the group and was lovingly nick named "Kid Russell." He spent eleven years as a night wrangler and during that time, his fame as a painter grew rapidly.
During the seasons he was not working, he would set up a studio in the back of a saloon. The bartender was the first person to commission him for a painting. The painting is a
three-part piece of Indians who are attacking a wagon train, elk, and antelope. It is called Western Scene, and was hung behind the bar, later the bartender commissioned another
painting that was called The Judith Basin. Russell strived for perfection and other cowboys loved his painting because they could recognize the people and animals that he painted.
As Russell's fame grew, his paintings began to be displayed outside of Montana. The first piece shown was Breaking Camp. He was also being written about in papers, The Independent
first named him "The Cowboy Artist" and the name stuck with him for the rest of his life. The winter of 1886 is known as the "Hard Winter" because during that time
10,000 cattle died of starvation. At this time, Russell was at the OH Ranch with several men, including Jesse Phelps. Louis Kaufman wrote to Jesse asking him what it was like
that winter. Russell offered to draw a picture to go along with the letter so on the bottom of a box he drew one of his most memorable pieces "Waiting for a Chinook (The Last of
5000)." The picture is of a single steer with a Bar R branded on it. It is standing in the snow with its ribs showing through its sides and wolves gathering around it ready to feast
on the dying animal. Jesse was so impressed he said that he would not even need to write a letter. Louie Kaufman gave the painting to Ben Roberts, a friend of Russell, and after
having it hang on a wall for nearly twenty-five years, he decided to reproduce the painting on postcards by the thousands. This painting is one of Russell's most famous.
"The Red man was the true American. They have almost gone but will never be forgotten." said Charles Russell about Indians. With reservations forming, buffalo declining, and
Indians starving, Russell wanted to paint them before it was too late. In 1888, he went to Canada where he had daily meetings with Indians who welcomed him. They taught him
sign language and called him Ah-Wah-Cous, which means antelope. All of the exposure with Indians gave Russell better expertise on drawing them. He was the first person to
paint them in scenes that showed them as dignified, "noblemen of prairies." He drew several paintings of the Indians from inside their teepees and depicted many touching
scenes of family moments. He respected the Indians and wanted them to have their freedom and the rights they deserved. He hated that the West was dying and tried to paint
everything he could to capture the romance of the West before it was gone forever. Russell worked as a cowboy until 1893 and after quitting, he moved from Great Falls to
Cascade where he made a studio in a vacant courtroom. He was shy about selling his paintings and usually only asked twenty-five dollars for one or he would trade a painting
for something else he needed. One of his friends, who would help him with the selling of his paintings, would double the price without telling Russell and then would tell him that
the people must have liked them so much they paid more. From 1893-1894, he completed over forty watercolors and twenty oil paintings. III. Love and Marriage
On October 1895, Ben Roberts invited Russell to dinner and when he walked in, he stopped dead in his tracks. Before him stood Nancy Copper, a seventeen-year-old beauty who took
care of the Roberts children. He would come to visit her often and even gave her Monte, his favorite horse. People warned the two not to marry because Nancy had fainting spells
and a doctor feared she might only live three years. Russell was also fourteen years older than she was. One night he took her for a walk at sunset down by the river. While
crossing echoing, wooden bridge, he proposed. At first, she said no but finally, she agreed to marry him, and they were married on September 9, 1896 in the Roberts parlor.
Russell made a painting of his proposal with her standing with her back towards him and his arm outstretched pleading with her. Their first home was a one-roomed shake and they
began their lives together with only seventy-five dollars between them. The two were together for the next thirty years. The year after their marriage they moved to Great Falls
and built a two-story house with a studio designed to look like Jake Hoover's old cabin. Before his marriage, Russell could barely make fifty dollars for a painting but Nancy was
able to sell them for hundreds of dollars each. Her boldness and requests for so much money embarrassed him. He called her prices "high-way robbery." She made him keep
regular painting hours and if a friend should interrupt him she would quickly shoo them away. Friendship was the most important thing to Russell and he would go into town daily
to see his friends. His neighbors, the Triggs, were very close to the Russell's, and he made them several paintings and sculptures as holidays gifts. The daughter of the Triggs
refused to ever sell any of the gifts. Even when she was a very old woman, who could have used the money, she refused to sell any of the pieces. Instead, when she died she
gave all of the pieces to the Great Falls C. M. Russell Museum under the condition that they never were taken anywhere else. The collection is now at the C. M. Russell Museum
in Great Falls and is the largest collection of Christmas and holiday paintings that exists. The Russell's never had children but in 1916, they adopted a boy named Jack. Russell was
fifty-two and Nancy was thirty-eight at the time. He loved his new baby and would walk up and down the street with the baby in the pram showing him off to everyone that passed
by. Russell loved children and would invite all the neighborhood kids into his studio and tell them stories of the Wild West and great cowboy adventures.
Russell painting habits were also unique, he would work on several paintings at once, he was able to jump from painting to painting without any hesitation. It would usually take
him three months to complete one oil painting. On a trip to New York he made a sculpture that became the first to be cast in bronze, it is called "Smoking Up." He would often use
little clay figures with a light above them to model for his paintings. In 1911, he had his first one-man show in New York. The Montana House of
Representatives commissioned Russell to paint a portrait to hang in the Helena Capital building. He was forced to raise the roof of his studio to fit the 12 x 25-foot canvas inside
his small studio cabin; he never felt the cabin was the same. The painting is called "Lewis and Clark Meeting the Flathead Indians at Ross Hole" and is the largest painting he ever
made. It still hangs in the capital building, in Montana. He traveled all over the world showing his paintings but he would have rather been at home in Montana or "God's
country" as he called it. In 1914 at a show in London, he was asked to wear a tuxedo but it was not his style so he added his own touches of cowboy shoes and a red sash. At the
end of his life he could receive ten-thousand dollars for a painting; he called this a "dead man's price." At this rate in 1921, he reportedly was paid the most money for a painting in
America at the time. His work captures the romance and adventure of the Old West and the masterpieces still bring the West to life. He never took credit for his work, "Talent, like
birthmarks are gifts an no credit nor fault of those who ware them" Russell once said. He painted and sculpted more than four thousand pieces in his lifetime but he never had any formal art training.
In 1923, Russell had spent nearly sixty years in a saddle and he began to suffer sciatica, a nerve problem that causes pain and weakness in the legs. He could no longer go up or
down stairs and surprisingly Nancy talked him into moving to Pasadena, California to sooth his pain but he would never make it there. On October 24, 1926, Charles M. Russell
died of a heart attack while checking in on his sleeping son. He never would drive in automobiles "skunk wagons" as he called them and he told Nancy that he did not want to
be taking to the other side in a car. She had to search the whole all over Montana and Wyoming to find a horse drawn hearse, which carried Russell to the cemetery; all of Great
Falls was closed down and over one hundred automobiles followed behind the artist. He is buried outside of Great Falls, but his love of the West and the masterpieces he created to
capture it are still displayed all over the country. His love and respect for nature and freedom shine through in his artwork, and although the West is gone, you can still
experience it in any of his paintings. Montana still has cowboys who keep Russell's spirit alive. Although it has many cities scattered across the landscape, the beauty and wonder
Russell experienced here is still experienced and enjoyed by anyone who takes a trip back to the Wild West. IV. Literary Career
Russell was a very colorful storyteller; he published three books of short stories that he illustrated himself. These books are of the stories he and his friends would tell while sitting
around someone's home in the evening or at a party. His letters are art works themselves, he would paint sketches on the letters and put a lot of effort into him because it would take him along time to write back to people. He was able to capture the old cowboy lifestyle in words as readily as in his paintings. Some of his stories were "The Story of the Cowpuncher", "Lepley's Bear", "Some Liars of
the Old West", and "Jake Hoover's Pig." These stories were included in a book called Trails Plowed Under which was published in 1937. In these stories he used the character
Rawhide Rawlins as the narrator/storyteller. The West
V. Literary Works Rawhide Rawlins Stories (1921) VI. Russell on the Web
Is Dead my Friend?
But Writers Hold the Seed
And What They Saw
Will Live and Grow
Again to Those Who Read
C. M. Russell, 1917
More Rawhides (1925)
Trails Plowed Under (1927)
This essay was submitted by a student of Steve Gardiner, a teacher at Billings Senior High School in Billings, Montana.