Charlie Russell’s first exposure to cowboys was working with a cattle outfit in 19th-century Montana. After becoming a full-time professional artist, he became one of the primary depicters of the rugged, independent Western cowboy in both paint and metal.
Much of Russell’s work is maintained at the C.M. Russell Museum Complex in Great Falls, Mont., which includes his original home and log cabin studio.
“We have thousands of paintings, sculptures and drawings from his childhood all the way through the end of his life,” said Theresa Stephens, marketing and public relations director for the museum. “The studio is set up with his original paints and palettes.”
The work is arranged in five galleries to show how Russell evolved as an artist. The museum also has an interesting collection of letters written by Russell that he embellished with drawings in the margins.
Remington’s work
Another great visual chronicler of the American West was Frederic Remington, whose work in paints and sculpture is preserved, exhibited and interpreted at the Frederic Remington Art Museum in Ogdensburg, N.Y.
Many of the items in the museum, which opened in 1923, came directly from the estate of Remington’s widow, Eva. In addition to his artwork, they include sketchbooks, notes, photographs and even some of his cigars.
Groups can get one-hour gallery tours, which include discussions of the various media used by Remington, his growth as an artist and the lost wax bronze casting process used for his sculptures. Many of Remington’s personal possessions and some of his studio equipment is displayed throughout the museum.
The work of Russell and Remington and many other artists who captured a wide variety of cowboy images is exhibited at several museums around the country that focus on Western art or have extensive Western art collections.
Contemporary works are shown each year at the Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibit and Sale at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Center in Oklahoma City, which has a large Western art gallery.
More than 300 new works of art are displayed throughout the summer, and each year, one piece is bought for the center’s permanent collection.
“Anytime a group comes, from June to September, they get to see this,” said Leslie Baker, director of marketing.
The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, Wyo., consists of five Smithsonian-quality museums, including the newly renovated Whitney Gallery of Western Art, with classic Western work by Russell, Remington, N.C. Wyeth and W.H.D. Koerner and an extensive collection of contemporary Western art. It also has a detailed re-creation of Remington’s New York studio that includes some original items.
Other museums with extensive and respected collections of Western art are the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Ga.; Denver Art Museum; Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, Indianapolis; Gilcrease Museum, Tulsa, Okla.; Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Neb.; Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, N.Y.; and the Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas.
For more Western attractions:
As cowboy as you can get
Western art has an eternal quality
Poetry at day’s end
