Charles Russell

Charles Marion Russell was an artist of the Wild American West. He created more than 2,000 paintings of cowboys, Indians. Recognized as 'the cowboy artist', Russell was also a storyteller. His works comprised a wide range of topics, including major historical events and everyday life in the West. He was noted for the frequency with which he portrayed well-known events from the point of view of Native American people instead of the non-Native viewpoint. Russell used as much color as a painter could on his mountain landscapes. As artist he arrived on the cultural scene at a time when the "wild west" was being chronicled and sold back to the public in many forms. Russell was fond of these popular art forms and made many friends among the well-off collectors of his works, including actors and film makers such as Will Rogers and Douglas Fairbanks.