Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A • W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 44 CHRISTMAS MEAT, 1915, watercolor. C.M. Russell Museum Collection, Gift of the Josephine Trigg Estate, 953-1-0009 CAUGHT IN THE ACT, 1888, published in Harper's Magazine THE C.M. RUSSELL MUSEUM While winter provided the grim inspiration for Charlie's first success, the season was prominent in his next stage as an artist. He was doggedly self-taught, and while his early career is marked by perhaps having more talent than ambition, eventually he started to get illustration work in magazines. Charlie submitted Caught in the Act to Harper's Magazine and to his surprise it was published in the May 12, 1888, issue. e painting revisted the terrible winter of 1886-87, showing how dismal and unforgiving the weather was for the people trying to survive. A family of Crow Indians, starving and desperate, have killed a cow owned by a local ranch and are in the process of butchering it as two cowboys come upon them. e painting, made only a year after Waiting for a Chinook, represents a huge advancement for Charlie both in painterly skill and storytelling. A natural storyteller, Charlie may not have been the best cowboy or sheepherder around, but he was the man people wanted to have around to tell nostalgic tales of the quickly changing west. Many of his experiences became the subjects of his paintings, even featuring likenesses of the men that were present at the depicted event. Caught in the Act embodies the deep respect Charlie had for the native people, and this theme was constant through his career. Other artists of the time presented Indians as stereotypical villains, mysterious, or more often than not, little dabs of color way off in the background as heroic white men filled the foreground composition. Charlie took these standards and flipped them, making sure his art includeda Native American point of view. As all Montanans know, winter is never far away—from our minds, hearts, or calendars. Charlie painted many winter scenes throughout his career with increasing skill and compositional wizardry. Some paintings were adventurous usually with a person or animal precarious on an icy cliff, many were pure sweet golden nostal- gia involving friendly cowboys and a warm Christmas glow, and quite a few were of the proud kings of the winter—elk or buffalo ma- jestic against inspiring mountains or plains. While many of these works are considered masterpieces, Charlie best showed the reality of a true Montana winter with the two paint- ings at the beginning of his career. Waiting for a Chinook and Caught in the Act truly capture a feeling and an experience that words can't describe. If you want to catch some C.M. Russell win- ter—or any season!—paintings in person, make sure to visit the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls. Established in 1953 and located on the same land where Charlie's home and art studio still stands, the Museum is a world-class collection of Russell paint- ings, illustrated letters, sculptures, personal artifacts, and a huge amount of other western history and art. For Distinctly Montana's Winter issue, the C.M. Russell Museum sent over some snowy pieces from their collection for you to enjoy. BUFFALO IN WINTER,C.M. Russell Museum Collection, Gift of the Josephine Trigg Estate CONTINUED

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