About Charlie Russell We've used several paintings from Charlie Russell on our site. Charlie, together with a handful of other artists such as Frederic Remington, captured the west as it once was. The drama and daily hard work of the cowboy lives on in the canvases of Charlie Russell's artwork.

Charlie Russell left St. Louis at the age of sixteen and moved to Montana were he was a cowboy with Monte his beloved horse for over eleven years before giving it up to paint full time.   Nicknamed the Kid, Charlie Russell never out grew his clumsiness as a cowboy but remained faithfully a hard worker.

In 1890, Charlie Russell did produce a portfolio of artwork entitled the Studies of Western Life but generally speaking Charlie Russell did not consider himself an artist.   Most of Charlie Russell 's work at this time was either given away or threw away.

In 1896, at age 32 Charlie Russell 's life changed when he married Nancy Cooper she was sixteen years old. Nancy and Charlie Russell settled in Great Falls, Montana.

Charlie Russell built a working studio. Now keeping Charlie Russell working in the studio was easy. Keeping Charlie Russell from giving away his artwork was extremely difficult. It was actually Nancy who recognized the worth and value of her husband's art work.

Russell greatly admired the American Indians, especially those of the Northern Plains, and spent the summer of 1888 visiting often with the Blood Indians in Alberta, Canada. This experience affected him for the rest of his life, and can be seen in the many detailed works he created of Plains Indians.

To learn more about the life and works of Charlie Russell, please visit the Charlie Russell Museum.