Page 134 - 2020 Russell Catalogue

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JENNIFER JOHNSON The West that Has Passed oil
60 x 48 inches
$22,500–27,500
In April 1911, Charlie Russell had one of his most successful one-man shows titled, The West That Has Passed at the Folsom Galleries in New York City. At this New York exhibit, Charlie conveyed his nostalgic vision of what he witnessed of cowboys, Indians, and wildlife in a wild and unfenced land.
In my work, I was inspired by Charlie’s masterpiece, In the Wake of the Buffalo Runners that was originally painted in the summer of 1911 at Bull Head Lodge, which was Charlie’s summer home located in Lake McDonald, Montana. I have placed Charlie on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River where I thought he would have been inspired to paint this masterpiece near his home. Charlie works at his easel and witnesses the late warm afternoon sunlight in a foreground cast in purple shadows and in the distance a herd of buffalo is roaming.
—Jennifer Johnson