Page 112 - 2015 Russell Catalogue

164CHARLES M. RUSSELL (1864–1926)Cowboy on a Bay Horse, c. 1895[Cowboy on the Range; Cowboy on a Bay Horse No. 2] watercolor on paper13 3⁄4 x 19 3⁄4 inchesSigned “C.M. Russell,” lower left with bison skull trademarkThe dozen years Charles M. Russell spent as a night herder for Montana cattle outfits provided him with an indelible identity as a “Cowboy Artist” and an inexhaustible supply of colorful subjects. Cowboy on a Bay Horse is one of just over two dozen known equestrian portraits the artist produced of individual range riders during his productive career. Most of these watercolor and/or pen and ink works, including this one, date to the 1890s. Although the identity of the confident cowpuncher in the image is unknown, Russell often portrayed pals with whom he had ridden the range.The horse’s right hip bears a pinwheel-shaped brand that appears in more than one Russell painting. The design had been used on Montana cattle as early as 1874. In 1883, the year after Russell worked his first roundup, ranchers James Sutherland and W.S. Springs of Meagher County became the first in the territory to register a horse brand of that design and anatomical location. In the years that followed, ranchers in Beaverhead, Fergus, Yellowstone, Flathead, Jefferson, and Lewis and Clark Counties also applied the brand to various places on both horses and cattle.B. Byron Price Director, Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West, University of Oklahoma$250,000–300,000Recorded in Charles M. Russell: A Catalogue Raisonné: CR.NE.66PROVENANCE• Charles M. Russell• Hallam L. Movius, Boston, MA c. 1900 (acquired from the artist)• Hallum L. Movius, Jr., Cambridge, MA (by descent, 1942)• Mrs. Nancy Movius (his wife), Cambridge, MA 1987• By Descent to Private Collection