Page 8 - 2021 March Sealed Bid Catalogue

Lot 1—CHARLES M. RUSSELL—A Desperate Stand, 1898
One of the most dramatic paintings in the renowned Mint Collection, A Desperate Stand, showcases Russell’s incomparable narrative abilities. The viewer becomes a part of the mesmerizing swirl of action, drama and detail within this static canvas. This swirl dissolves as the eye traces from the steady white horse, to the red saddle blanket, and finally down the barrel of the danger at hand.
Russell created this major work in oil during a phase of artistic acceleration coinciding with many changes in his personal life. Just two years away from a new century, 1898 marked a year when the artist moved to the thriving city of Great Falls with his new wife and business partner, Nancy Cooper Russell. Russell’s ambitious approach to the scale and complexity of the composition exemplify a simple comment Russell had made about this turning-point in his career: I did my best work for her.1
The history of Lot 1, A Desperate Stand, features a wonderfully interwoven storyline of historically recognizable characters. As noted, the work was once in the Mint Collection owned by Sid Willis. Before arriving in Montana in 1888, Willis was born in Arkansas (where incidentally, he attended school with Will Rogers’ future wife Betty Blake).2 Once in Montana, Willis worked on ranches, in the meat business, as Valley County sheriff and eventually as owner of one of Charlie Russell’s favorite Great Falls watering holes, The Mint Saloon. With a credible background in cowboy culture and the livestock industry, Willis was an early supporter of the artist who truly appreciated Russell’s authentic perspective on the West. As such, Willis and his discerning eye compiled one of the most important collections of works by Montana’s cowboy artist.3
The next chapter in the history of the piece introduces Will Rogers and Amon G. Carter, Sr. In his preface to Charles M. Russell: Masterpieces from the Amon Carter Museum, Rick Stewart writes:
Will Rogers and Amon G. Carter, Sr. were close friends for many years, and it was Rogers who first introduced the Fort Worth publisher to the work of Charles M. Russell. In 1935, the year that Rogers lost his life in a tragic airplane accident, Carter acquired his first Russells...
...Having decided several years before to establish a public museum for his growing western art collection, Carter continued to add to his Russell holdings. In 1952, he completed negotiations to obtain the famed collection of more than eight of Russell’s works that had belonged to Sid Willis, proprietor of the Mint Saloon in Great Falls, Montana. With this acquisition, Carter possessed the most significant collection of Charles M. Russell’s work in existence.4
A Desperate Stand serves as a tangible link between the legacies of four notable men. Charlie Russell, Sid Willis, Will Rogers and Amon G. Carter each played an important role in the timeline of this work and the forever famous Mint Collection. All this is depicted against the formidable backdrop of the Judith Basin’s Square Butte in the very heart of Russell’s Cowboy Country.