Alissa Jeffries Memorial Award
Like
Frederic Remington, Charles M. Russell was born to moderate wealth. A native of St. Louis,
Missouri, Russell first came to Montana as a boy of 16 with a dream of becoming a real
cowboy. He was so captivated with the West he chose to stay and fulfill his childhood
fantasy.
During those first years in Montana, Russell received great encouragement from Jake
Hoover, a mountain man who befriended him and took him under his wing. Hoover often shared
his cabin with the young Charlie, sometimes providing food and shelter for months at a
time. This friendship allowed Russell to experience the ways of the frontier life he would
later portray so vividly in his paintings.
In 1882 Charlie landed a job as a wrangler on a cattle drive. He wrangled for eleven
years, and while he was not known for being a good roper or rider, Russell established a
local reputation as the affable (come said bone lazy) cowboy who loved to draw and knew
how to tell a great story. As a self-taught artist, his sketches were crude but reflected
an observant eye, a feel for animal and human anatomy, a sense of humor and a flair for
portraying action - all hallmarks of Russell's mature art.
Throughout his years on the range, he witnessed the changing of the West. He saw the
bitter winter of 1886-87 end the cattleman's dominion on the northern plains. The days of
free grass and unfenced range were ending and, for Russell, the cowboy life was over by
1893.
Prior to Russell's marriage to Nancy Cooper, in 1896, only a few of his works had been
reproduced nationally. Although he was unsure of his ability to earn a living with his
art, Nancy Russell recognized her husband's talent and promise, and provided the business
sense and drive that eventually made her unambitious husband one of America's most popular
artists. Success did not come easily for the Russells. Montana offered few opportunities
for art sales, which eventually led them to New York where contact was established with
other artists interested in Western themes. At the very time Frederic Remington was
getting out of illustration to concentrate on painting, Russell secured illustrating
assignments and began to gain exposure through exhibitions and press coverage. His
emergence in the big time art world came in 1911 with a one man show at a New York
gallery, followed three years later by an exhibition in London.
Charles Russell felt deeply the passing of the West, the most evident theme of his art.
This sense of loss touched him with an emotional immediacy. He was haunted by youthful
fantasies, memories of what once was and by the evidence of change that surrounded him as
an everyday reality. His work reflected the public demand for authenticity, but also the
soul of a romantic.
Charles M. Russell
Born: 1864 in St. Louis, Missouri
Died: in Great Falls, Montana
Cowboy Artist, Charlie Russell captured forever the real legend of the west now gone. The
drama and daily hard work of the cowboy lives on in the canvases of Charlie Russell's
artwork
Charlie Russell left St. Louis at the age of sixteen and moved to Montana were he was a
cowboy with Monte his beloved horse for over eleven years before giving it up to paint
full time. Nicknamed the Kid, Charlie Russell never out grew his clumsiness as a cowboy
but remained faithfully a hard worker
In 1890, Charlie Russell did produce a portfolio of artwork entitled the Studies of
Western Life but generally speaking Charlie Russell did not consider himself an artist.
Most of Charlie Russell 's work at this time was either given away or threw away
In 1896, at age 32 Charlie Russell 's life changed when he married Nancy Cooper she was
sixteen years old. Nancy and Charlie Russell settled in Great Falls, Montana
Charlie Russell built a working studio. Now keeping Charlie Russell working in the studio
was easy
Keeping Charlie Russell from giving away his artwork was extremely difficult. It was
actually Nancy who recognized the worth and value of her husbands art work.
I guess the moral of this story has been told before it goes like this: Successful men are
guided and nurtured buy a good woman.
Now the Cowboy Artist, Charlie Russell is well known for his art work and his fine wife
who nurtured and guided his life along the way.