About C.M. Russell

Charles Marion Russell (1864-1926)

Charles Marion Russell was many things: consummate westerner, historian, advocate of the Northern Plains Indian Tribes, cowboy, outdoorsman, writer, philosopher, environmentalist, conservationist, and not least, artist. Born in St. Louis in 1864, he came to the Judith Basin of Montana in 1880 a few days after his 16th birthday.

Working briefly tending sheep, he realized his dreams of the west were not to be fulfilled in this manner. He soon teamed up with a local hunter, Jake Hoover, with whom he spent two years sharing a cabin on the South Fork of the Judith River. But, Russell wanted to be a cowboy, living the exciting life of men on the range, and was shortly thereafter working as a night wrangler for the Judith Basin Roundup. This was exactly what Russell wanted and needed; it gave him time to observe the cowboys at work during the day and to sketch and document all the activities and excitement of the cow camp. He continued to work as a cowboy and wrangler for eleven years before retiring to become a full-time artist.

Russell greatly admired the American Indians, especially those of the Northern Plains region, and spent the summer of 1888 often visiting with the Blood Indians in Alberta, Canada. This experience affected him for the rest of his life, and can be seen in the many detailed works he created of Plains Indians.

Several years after his marriage to Nancy Cooper, which occurred in 1896, Russell painted and sculpted in his log studio adjacent to his home in Great Falls, Montana, filling it with collections of Indian clothing, utilitarian objects, weapons, cowboy gear, “horse jewelry,” and other western “props” useful in accurately depicting the scenes of the old west of which he was so fond. It was here that Russell completed all of his major paintings after 1903.

Russell completed approximately 4,000 works of art during his lifetime. He was the first “western” artist to live most of his life in the west, and for this reason, knew his subject matter intimately, setting the standard for many who followed. He is one of the most widely recognized and distinguished western artist of his time and of today.

The C.M. Russell Museum is dedicated to the interpretation and preservation of the work and life of Charles M. Russell, and to sharing his unique art and vision with the people who love the west as much as Charlie did.