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Seated Indian is recorded in the C. M. Russell Catalogue Raisonné as reference number CR.UNL.484.

Seated Indian “is the clipped illustration from one of his [Russell’s] famed letters. According to Brian Dippie, the watercolor image was in the noted Fred Rosenstock Collection, while the original pencil drawing that Russell traced onto the letter is in the Charles M. Russell Research Collection (formerly known as the Britzman Collection) at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ...

“It is uncertain when the illustration and the corresponding Russell signature were clipped from the letter, but according to Dr. Dippie, ‘I would add one thing: almost certainly the illustration was clipped from the letter before Good Medicine was published in 1930; after the book’s appearance anyone owning a Russell letter had to realize the importance of the text as well as the sketch.’”

PROVENANCE
Fred Rosenstock Collection
Midwestern Galleries, Cincinnati, OH
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sawyer, Jr., Cincinnati, OH
Private Collection, by descent
[Sotheby’s, New York, NY 2014 (as Indian Preparing a Pipe)]
Big Sky Collection, Larry and LeAnne Peterson, Sisters, OR 2014

LITERATURE
Auction catalog, Paintings, Watercolors, Bronzes, Illustrated Letters, Books and Ephemera by Charles Marion Russell, The Collection of Fred A. Rosenstock (New York, NY: Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc., Oct 19, 1972), no. 31, illustrated halftone

Condition ReportAs viewed through glass. Paper appears to be yellowed, though in good condition overall. Colors appear slightly faded.

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.