Russell created the model for The Enemy’s Tracks in 1921. According to Rick Stewart, it depicts a “mounted warrior who leans over to examine fresh tracks in the soft soil. Scantily clad, he holds a long lance against his left arm, while a bow case and quiver hangs down across his lower back and right leg. His hair is arranged in the Blackfoot fashion, braided and parted with a long, stiffened lock hanging over the forehead. Possibly the warrior is on a scalp or revenge raid, for the Blackfeet sometimes braided the tails of their horses part way and tied the end in a knot with a feather when they were on the warpath. In the sculpture, the horse has a feather hanging from the mane on its forehead—another ritualized decoration sometimes employed in preparation for battle. The four geometric horseshoes on the animal’s upper right flank each denote leadership of a war party, a notable accomplishment among the Blackfeet.”

Stewart states, “At this writing, at least three Roman Bronze Works casts and five by the California Art Bronze Foundry have been identified in public and private collections, and overall, as many as fourteen bronzes are known to exist.”

PROVENANCE
The Artist gifted to
T. L. Greenough, Missoula, MT given as a wedding gift to
Virginia Lou Walters and Mayhew Yale Foster
Present owner, by descent

LITERATURE
Frederic G. Renner, Charles M. Russell: Paintings, Drawings, and Sculpture in the Amon Carter Museum (New York, NY: Abradale Press/Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1974), p 45, example illustrated
Rick Stewart, Charles M. Russell, Sculptor (Fort Worth, TX: Amon Carter Museum, 1994), pp 78, 249-53, example illustrated

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