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another." Seltzer was twenty years old at the time. On many
occasions, they rode the range in sync, painted simultaneously
and exchanged thoughts and advice on art.
Among themes favored by Olaf were homestead events, Na-
tive American and cowboy life. While Seltzer's Indian paintings
brought him posthumous fame, he in fact painted and sketched
a wide variety of subjects, from oils to portraits of his favorite
cat and scenic views painted on a buffalo collarbone. He would
often use a magnifying glass in painting, or if he could not find a
brush fine enough to suit him, he would pull half the hairs out of
one that he had.
The final years of Olaf's life—he died in December, 1957, in
Great Falls—were spent in a wheelchair.
To honor Seltzer, perhaps it is fitting to conclude with this excerpt
from the 1941 edition of Encyclopedia of Northwest Biography:
"As a portrayer of the western scene, Olaf Carl Seltzer belongs
in the great tradition of Remington and Russell, a tradition
which retains all its vitality and force in the canvases which have
brought him an international reputation as an artist. He was… an
intimate friend of Charles Russell for many years, but has brought
to his career original and arresting gifts which make his work
entirely his own."
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