Unless you share a birthday with Frederic Remington (October 4), Joseph Henry Sharp (September 27), Georgia O’Keeffe (November 15) or Frank Tenney Johnson (June 26), it’s highly unlikely you know their birthdays. It’s just not information most people store in their memory banks. And yet, March 19 has become a date that many Western fans know quite well. It’s the day Charles M. Russell was born way back in 1864.Thomas Moran (1837-1926), Castle Rock, Green River, Wyoming, 1907, oil, 20 x 30”

Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), Thirsty, watercolor on paper, 21 x 30”

One of the reasons why that date has become something more and more people know—and can summon on trivia nights—is the C.M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana. Every March, to honor the museum’s namesake, organizers put on The Russell, a series of events and auctions to celebrate Russell and his accomplishments to Western art. Since Covid, though, the museum has pushed its annual March events into August, which has left a gap in the calendar for Russell’s birthday. Last year the museum introduced a sealed-bid sale to mark the day, and this year that sale returns.

The sealed-bid sale offers an opportunity for Western art fans to acquire an amazing piece of art and also support the museum and it’s programming. The sale is now open for collectors to start making silent bids, which can be placed at the museum or by contacting the museum. Bidding closes at 6:30 p.m. on March 19. Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), High, Wide, and Handsome, 1919, watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper, 16 x 12½”

Scott Tallman Powers, The Ranch Hand, oil, 8 x 12”

“We like to remind people we are a not-for-profit museum and education is a primary goal,” says Duane Braaten, the museum’s director of art and philanthropy, “so every dollar counts to the museum and its mission.”

This year’s sale will include 12 to 15 pieces. Announced artworks include two Russell paintings and a Thomas Moran work, all three of which should generate considerable interest from collectors. The Russell pieces are Thirsty, an 1898 watercolor showing a Native American mother giving her baby a sip of water, and High, Wide, and Handsome, a 1919 watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper with a rider and a bucking bronco. Both works are classic Russell images and show his mastery of watercolor and gouache. W. Steve Seltzer, Almost Home, oil, 12 x 12”

The Moran piece is also special. It is the 1907 oil Castle Rock, Green River, Wyoming, showing one of the artist’s most revered and popular subjects, the majestic rock formations along the Green River. The artist was fond of the location and painted it dozens of times under all different kinds of light and from many different angles. 

Also happening this year is a brand-new event, Charlie’s Miniature Roundup, a miniature show featuring 75 artists on March 18. “It’s an invitational and we’re doing something really exciting. We’re picking artists who have never shown with The Russell before,” Braaten says. “Everything starts very affordable. We have works from $750 up to pieces that are worth several thousand dollars. The paintings have to be 144 square inches or less, and the bronzes can’t be longer than 8 inches on any side. We’re seeing some great work come to us, so it’s going to be fun. Naomi Brown, Golden Evening Superstition Mountains, oil, 12 x 12”

Len Babb, The Bronc Ride, watercolor, 12 x 11”

Artists in Charlie’s Miniature Roundup include Teal Blake, Naomi Brown, Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey, W. Steve Seltzer, Amy Ringholz, Scott Tallman Power and many others. The artwork will be sold via a fixed-price, by-draw sale and it will be held at a new event space, the Newberry, which is not far from the museum.

The museum has also announced it will be lowering the buyer’s premium from 17 percent down to 12 percent on contemporary work at The Russell. The change will take effect for this year’s sale on August 19 and 20. —

Sealed-Bid Sale
Through March 19, 2022
C.M. Russell Museum, 400 13th Street N., Great Falls, MT 59401
(406) 727-8787, www.cmrussell.org/the-russell

Charlie’s Miniature Roundup
March 18, 2022, 7 p.m.
The Newberry, 420 Central Avenue, Great Falls, MT 59401
(406) 727-8787, www.cmrussell.org

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