Charles M Russell Montana Sitting Bear Bronze
Updated August 8, 2026
| Lot number | 905 |
| Estimate | 1,000.00 - 1,500.00 USD |
| Category | Fine Art & Prints |
| Auction | The Richest Hill on Earth - Day 3 |
| Date | August 15, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT |
| Auction house | Davis Brothers Auction |
| Location | Missoula, Montana |
Title is Sitting Bear. 3 1/8" by 3 1/4" by 4 3/8". Number 21/30. Charles Marion Russell (1864 - 1926) was active/lived in Montana, California, Missouri. Charles Russell is known for Indian-frontier genre painting, sculpture. Charles M. Russell, the nostalgic, held tight memories of a youthful past when the West belonged to God. There was a sense of loss, as poignant as losing a loved one. The specter of what this loss meant loomed over Russell the rest of his life. He was the quintessential nostalgic who grabbed history and married it to idealized memory and imagination. For example, despite Russell never witnessing a buffalo hunt, it became the basis for his most popular and desired art. Nancy Russell explained, "No man can be a painter without imagination." The Romantic art of the nineteenth century was the cornerstone to build the West reimagined for not only Russell, but also his contemporaries and future artists. No Western American artist fought back harder against racism, sexism, and championed environmentalism more than did Charles M. Russell. He thrived on imagining a time when the land was pristine, women were held in high regard, and people of color were the heroes. Paradoxically, the industrialized world championed just the opposite. To many, his life appeared odd—that cowboy hat, that sash, that unruly hair, that folksy talk. He and his art embraced an identity of an exile from a different place and time, which is even more appealing today. In that way, Russell was a visionary who instilled hope in all who saw his art, and his heart. For those reasons and much more, he is the most beloved of all the Western American artists. The Charles M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana; the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma in Norman; the Charles M. Russell Center Series on Art and Photography of the American West (books published by the University of Oklahoma University Press); the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge in Montana; the Russell Riders; and the Russell Skull Society are a testament to that fact. The Cowboy Artists of America have been called "The Sons of Charlie Russell" by art historian B. Byron Price for good reason. Russell was a legendary painter, sculptor, and author. Ever humble and self-effacing, as his fame skyrocketed, he never forgot his cowboy friends. The importance of his life and works is that no one has inspired more new generations of artists. Russell lived in the past and his wife Nancy who was his business manager lived for the future. How could a self-trained artist living in remote Montana become the highest paid artist in America? It’s quite a story. Charles Marion Russell was born on March 19, 1864 in St. Louis, Missouri, a bustling gateway to the West of some 200,000 people. Family history and adventure stories such as the Leatherstocking Tales by James Fenimore Cooper lured Russell to the West. On a crisp March day in 1880 Charl
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