Page 93 - TheRussellCatalogue2017

123
FRANZ TREVORS (1907–1980)
e Holdup [after Charles M. Russell, 1944]
oil
60 x 130 inches
Signed and dated lower right: TREVORS ‘44/AFTER CMR
$15,000–25,000
is expansive oil painting is the greatest of a handful of canvas murals commissioned by a Reno, Nevada casino to decorate its walls. e artist modeled his large-scale works after well-known compositions by his hero, Charles M. Russell. Comparison of this work with the original Russell image shows how this one is closely based on Russell’s 1899 masterpiece with the same title. Trevors closely captures both the spirit and tradition of Russell’s work. But he also adds his own personal touch in the form of a changed name of the gang leader and the location of the robbery thus relating it to the Reno gambling clientele.
Based on the true story of legendary bandit “Big Nose George,” Russell’s original version of e Hold Up was his most revered painting in Sid Willis’ Great Falls Mint Bar collection. It hung there for over ve decades except for two exhibitions of it in St. Louis and Seattle. During the latter, it was reported to have “attracted more attention than any other picture in the exhibit.”1
After its acquisition by famous Russell collector Amon Carter, the original Russell painting hung for yet another half century in Carter’s Fort Worth museum. According to former Amon Carter curator and director Rick Stewart, it was that institution’s most admired work by Russell.
Fully 100 percent of the sale proceeds of this consignment will be donated to the C.M. Russell Museum as part
of the early funding for the upcoming endowment campaign. A copy of the book Ambush on Elk Mountain: e Murders, the Manhunt, and Big Nose George Parrott by Max R. Atwell with pertinent history will accompany this lot.
PROVENANCE
• Private collection, Colorado
1 S. A. (Sid) Willis, Souvenir Illustrated Catalogue (Great Falls, MT: e Mint Saloon), 3.