Charles M. Russell - Softcover

Hassrick, Peter H.

4.6

5 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080613142X ISBN 13: 9780806131429

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1999

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This first comprehensive biography of Charles M. Russell examines the colorful life and times of Montana’s famed Cowboy Artist. Born to an affluent St. Louis family in 1864, young Russell read thrilling tales of the West and filled sketchbooks with imagined frontier scenes. At sixteen he left home and headed west to become a cowboy. In Montana Territory he consorted with cowpunchers, Indians, preachers, saloon keepers, and prostitutes, while celebrating the waning American frontier’s glory days in some 4,000 paintings, watercolors, drawings, and sculptures. Before his death in 1926, Russell saw the world change dramatically, and the West he loved passed into legend. By then he was revered as one of the country’s ranking Western artist with works displayed in the finest galleries, his romantic vision of the Old West forever shaping our own.Taliaferro reveals the man behind the myth in his multifaceted complexity: extraordinarily gifted, self-effacing, charming, mischievous, and playful, a friend to rough frontier denizens and Hollywood stars alike. The author also explores Russell’s controversial partnership with his fiery young wife, Nancy, whose ambition and business savvy helped establish Russell as one of America’s most popular artists.

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Review:

"Beautifully illustrated. . . . Hassrick's meticulously crafted study provides a sensitive introduction not only to Russell's art but also to the cultural context in which it developed." -- Choice

From the Publisher:

Choice Selection of Russell's art
In 1880, Charles M. Russell headed west to Montana, where he worked as a wrangler and chronicled in paint, ink, and watercolor the West and its people. For his splendid depictions of bronco riders, roundups, and everyday ranch life, Russell soon became known as "the Cowboy Artist." Yet this was a "Cowboy Artist" who also spent much time among the Indians and developed a sympathetic understanding and appreciation for their efforts to preserve their way of life. Russell's memorable paintings and drawings portray a frontier that was vanishing, not only for Indians but also for cowboys.

Peter H. Hassrick discusses Russell's work in the context of the artist's experiences in the West and the people who influenced his artistic style. Included are reproductions of a choice selection of Russell's paintings, drawings, and sculpture, each accompanied by a brief commentary.

"Beautifully illustrated. . . . Hassrick's meticulously crafted study provides a sensitive introduction not only to Russell's art but also to the cultural context in which it developed."--Choice

"By means of this intelligent and well-designed book, we can return through Russell's paintings to the mythic West. It's worth the trip."--American Artist

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