2021 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction / Lot 21723 / 375  •  View Catalog  •   • 

217
Charles M. Russell (1864 – 1926)
Indian on a Pinto (1898)
watercolor on paper
13 × 20.5 inches
signed and dated lower left

Indian on a Pinto is recorded in the C. M. Russell Catalogue Raisonné as reference number CR.PC.144.

According to Frederic G. Renner “The great mobility of the Plains Indians was one of the reasons why the United States Army needed twenty-five years and over a thousand separate battles to subdue them. General Crook once noted in an official report that a band of Sioux Indians with their families could travel fifty miles a day, living off the country and keeping scouts advanced from twenty to fifty miles in all directions. With the Indian leaders fully informed of the movements and strength of the army forces, they were able to avoid conflict or to pick the time and place of battle.

“The scout … may have come across the tracks of an enemy column and is sending a message back to his companions. The fact that he is making no attempt at concealment suggests the enemy is not in sight.”

PROVENANCE
Katherine Bradford, Hamilton, Massachusetts
Present owner, by descent

EXHIBITED
How the West Was Won, Wildenstein & Co., New York, New York, 1968
Bradford Brinton Memorial Museum, Big Horn, Wyoming, 2011

217

Charles M. Russell

1864 – 1926

Indian on a Pinto (1898)
watercolor on paper
13 × 20.5 inches
signed and dated lower left
Sold at Auction: $157,300
Condition ReportViewed out of frame. Paper, mounted to a piece of mat board, is in excellent condition. Faint mat burns along right side of paper and along bottom edge.

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.