Charles Marion Russell

Charles Marion Russell was one of the eminent painters and documenters of the Old American West, working at the turn of the 19th century. Russell longed for life as a cowboy as a young child and moved out west as a 16-year-old, where he simultaneously learned to paint and be a cowboy. A painter of cowboys, Native Americans, and scenic natural landscapes, his works are understood as romantic narratives. His loose yet refined paint handling and ability to blend colors to create haziness add dreaminess to his romantic scenes and mysticism to his refined realism.