Charles Marion Russell (19 March, 1864 – 24 October, 1926), also known as Charles M. Russell, C.M. Russell, Charlie Russell, and “Kid” Russell, was an American artist whose paintings were characterized with elements of the Old American West. He created several paintings of landscapes, historical events, cowboys, and Indians. Besides painting, Russell was also a renowned sculptor, an author, and storyteller. There is no gainsaying that art was always part of his life from the time he was growing up in Missouri till his last breathe. While still young, he started off sketching and making figures of animals using clay. He spent a lot of his time reading Wild West, something that quite enchanted him. At the age of 16, Russell moved to Montana where learned about Wild West and worked for a long time as a cowboy. He documented his experiences as a cowboy using watercolors. His breakthrough came when he painted a piece that was forwarded by a foreman to the ranch owner as a report on how their herd survived the winter. The owner of the ranch liked it so much, showed it to friends and business associates and later displayed it in a shop window. At that point works started flowing Russell’s way.
Russell often captured American culture in his paintings. He a lot about American cultures from the many different places he lived. When he finally settled in Great Falls in Montana to work as a full time artist, a lot of his experiences would feature in his works. He married his wife Nancy in 1896. Within a short time, he had made a name for himself within the locality and had started getting acclaims and critics from all over the world. A lot of credit also goes to Nancy for having marketed the artwork, something Russell wasn’t good at. Many of his works remain displayed in the R.W. Norton Gallery in Shreveport and Amon Carter Museum. In 2005, his artwork Piegans was sold in an auction for $5.6 million. Several of his other works have also sold above the one million dollar mark after. Russell remains one of the greatest documented artists ever.
