Young Boy by C.M. Russell
Hockaday Museum Permanent Collection |
Charles Marion Russell
(1864 - 1926)
Charles M. Russell was born in St. Louis in 1864
and by sixteen was living the life of a cowboy
in Montana Territory. Russell first gained prominence
with an image capturing the severe winter of 1886 when thousands
of cattle perished on the northern plain. Waiting for a Chinook
became one of his most important artistic
statements. This exquisite little watercolor was
shown all around Helena and soon became famous
throughout the Territory. His days as a wrangler
ended when Nancy Cooper became his bride in
1896. Nancy was Russell's business manager,
freeing him to concentrate on his art. Russell's success gave him the
means to build a new home and studio in Great Falls. He and
Nancy began spending some of their summers in Glacier. In 1906
they built the Bull Head Lodge after Charlie's
buffalo skull trademark. The cabin was
accessible only by boat and was located 100 feet
from the water's edge, and became one of the
stopovers for dudes led through the Park. Russell's charm
provided great entertainment for the tourists. Nancy --
regarding each one as a potential client for future
paintings and bronzes -- made certain everyone signed the guest
book. He began displaying his work
in the third-story lobby of the newly-built Lewis Hotel at the
northern end of Lake McDonald. In 1926, one of the most
destructive fires in the history of Glacier swept through the
Park. A mile of forest burned along the edge of Lake McDonald
but stopped short of Bull Head Lodge where Russell was spending
his last summer. On October 24, Charlie Russell died of a heart
attack at his home in Great Falls.
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