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CHARLES M. RUSSELL (1864–1926) A Quiet Day in Chinook
watercolor
18 x 28 inches
$150,000–250,000
Recorded in Charles M. Russell: A Catalogue Raisonné: CR.PC.492
e scene depicted in A Quiet Day in Chinook closely resembles several compositions
by Russell involving remarkably similar hazings of Eastern dandies upon their arrival
in Montana. ese “tenderfoots” endured comparable humiliation at the hands of a trigger-happy, trail-hardened cowhand. Given Russell’s typically respectful manner toward others, it is doubtful that he was intending to glorify these events; rather, he was simply recording what he had actually observed, including many details involving such onlookers as the cowboy in wooly chaps, the cigar smoking card shark, or the colorfully robed Indian whose hand to his mouth barely conceals his amusement and perhaps relief that he is not the object of attention.
e hat on the ground in this painting likely provides a signi cant clue as to what preceded this event. Some two years earlier, Russell executed a painting titled Whooping It Up, also titled A Quiet Day in Chinook* (now owned by the Will Rogers State Historical Park). In that painting, there is a similar hat falling to the ground as a group of “coming through the Rye” arrayed cowboys are entering town, presumably on payday. Two other Russell works, Painting the Town, an 1898 pen and ink, and Shooting Up the Town, a watercolor, depict the same situation, with a similarly attired Chinese person running to get out of the way.
PROVENANCE
• Frederic G. and Ginger K. Renner collection, Arizona
• Private collection, Colorado
*A Quiet Day in Chinook as illustrated in Remington, Russell, and the Language of Western Art, by Peter H. Hassrick, (Trust for Museum Exhibitions, Washington DC), 71.