58

VERSO
Label, J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, New York
Label, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California

The Rattlesnake is recorded in the C. M. Russell Catalogue Raisonné as reference number CR.PC.251. An original bill of sale from J. N. Bartfield Galleries will accompany the lot.

According to Russell authority Dr. Larry Len Peterson, “By 1897 Charles M. Russell was known around Montana as the cowboy artist, even though he had left the itinerant life of a cowboy behind four years earlier. Requests for interviews from newspapers around the nation were pouring in as Russell’s fame grew. Eager to please, Charlie was more than happy to feed the legend that Kid Russell had first set foot in Montana as a boy, lived with the Indians, and experienced the life of a cowboy and of a mountain man with Jake Hoover. Charlie was portrayed as an artistic genius without formal training, untainted by the influence of the Eastern establishment – much like the Indian before the White man.

“Theodore Roosevelt who had his own ranch in Medora, Dakota Territory described his take on the cowboy, ‘But everywhere among these plainsmen and mountain-men, more important than any, are the cowboys – the men who follow the calling that has brought such towns into being. Singly, or in twos or threes, they gallop their wiry little ponies down the street, their lithe, supple figures erect or swaying slightly as they sit loosely in the saddle; while their stirrups are so long that their knees are hardly bent, the bridles not taut enough to keep the chains from clanking. They are smaller and less muscular than the wielders of ax and pick; but they are as hardy and self-reliant as any men who ever breathed – with bronzed, set faces, and keen eyes that look all the world straight in the face without flinching as they flash out from under the broad-brimmed hats. Peril and hardship, and years of long toil broken by weeks of brutal dissipation, draw haggard lines across their eager faces, but never dim their reckless eyes nor break their bearing of defiant self-confidence.’

“Besides self-protection, cowboys used their guns for target shooting or shooting the myriad of gophers that riddled the prairie landscape. Rattlesnakes seemed less ominous when one packed a six-shooter. The Colt .45 acted as the judge and jury in many saloons in the West. With his cowboy costume on full display, the mounted cavalier carried himself with a sort of acidic pride, fully convinced that he was the aristocrat among workingmen of the West. Russell’s personality was that of the stereotypical cowboy persona – self-effacing but confident, humorous, loyal, hardworking, playful, and late in life, reflective. While personality can’t be viewed like a physical trait, Russell’s character is evident in many of his works.

“In 1897 Charlie and his wife Nancy moved into a four-room rental on Seventh Avenue North in booming Great Falls, Montana. The tremendous amount of artwork he generated in the next two years was completed in his dining room studio. Nancy was handling all the sales, and Charlie stated in 1925, ‘The worst fight Nancy and I ever had was in 1897 when she asked $75 for a canvas, which I thought was highway robbery – and got it. I was willing to sell it for $5, but she insisted we had to eat.’”

PROVENANCE
Mr. and Mrs. R. Stanton Avery, Pasadena, California
J. N. Bartfield Galleries, New York, New York, 2009
Robert D. Reed Collection, Jacksonville, Florida

EXHIBITED
The West as Art: Changing Perceptions of Western Art in California Collections, Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California, 1982

LITERATURE
The West as Art: Changing Perceptions of Western Art in California Collections, Palm Springs Desert Museum, 1982, p. 124, illustrated

Condition ReportSurface is in excellent condition. Hairline inpainting in sky. Spots of inpainting on horse.

Important Notice: Statements of condition are provided as a service to potential bidders; such statements are educated opinions and should not be regarded as facts. The Coeur d’Alene Art Auction has no responsibility for any errors or omissions.