More than a Statue- Who the Heck is Charlie Russell?!

If you walk down National Statutory Hall in Washington DC you will probably see a variety of statues you may or may not recognize.  Each state gets two statues and there are many you might recognize from your eight grade history class.  There are founding fathers and former presidents.  But as you wonder down the hall, the mid-west and western states' representatives become harder and harder to recognize.  You might catch yourself wondering out-loud "who is William Edgar Borah?" or even, "who the heck is Charles Marion Russell?"
I can't say much about the latter, but let me tell you, if you live in or travel through Montana, Charles Marion Russell should be part of your experience.  As a tourist, you might notice how often the name Russell appears on streets, buildings and organizations.  Montana has great pride in him and for good reason! Russell is arguably the greatest painter of the American West....Ever!  His style is accurate and informative but in a very artistic way.

He portrayed the West and specifically Montana as it was, because he saw and experienced it as it was.  In an era that portrayed Native Americans with a specific and often inaccurate slant,  Russell displayed a very intimate knowledge of real native culture.  Why?  Because he actually lived with the Bloods (a tribe of natives in North Central Montana) for a time!  He showed the rise and fall of the cattle boom as it was too, because he was there working as a cowboy when it happened.  In fact, his famous painting Waiting for a Chinook portrayed the fall of the cattle boom in a way few were willing to admit at the time.  Even today, many Westerns show an abundance of pasture, seemingly endless cattle and a great life for anyone who can ride a horse and swing a rope.  But the reality was that the 1886 -87 winter put an end to the romanticized cowboy because more than half the cows in Montana died that winter.   After that it was less cows and more sheep.

Even down to the specific details of cowboy gear and native regalia, Russell understood and accurately depicted Montana.  Each painting and sculpture he finished told a story or recalled a cultural nuance.  A quick sampling of his paintings will give you a more accurate feel for the True Montana of the 19th Century than most history books will.  If you've never heard of him, check him out and allow yourself to be drawn into a very different, but very real Montana from the past!