The Autist’s Circle 12 - Charles Marion Russell: The Cowboy Artist

Описание: Join ‪@bleachdemon‬ and I for another fast-paced, one-hour art history livestream of The Autist’s Circle.

Charles Marion Russell (1864 – 1926) was more than an artist, he was the West itself.
Born in St. Louis but raised by the open sky of Montana, Russell lived as a cowboy, trapper, and ranch hand long before he ever touched a gallery wall. His art wasn’t imagined from the comfort of a studio; it came from firsthand experience — cold winters, cattle drives, campfire nights, and the fading songs of the buffalo herds.

In this episode, Blackout and Bleach explore how Russell transformed lived reality into visual legend. We’ll trace his journey from teenage runaway to the “Cowboy Artist,” and examine how his paintings bridged three eras of the frontier: the lived West, the remembered West, and the mythic West of the American imagination.

Russell painted not heroes or villains, but human beings — ranchers, scouts, and tribes — caught between wilderness and civilization. His brush recorded the laughter, the grit, and the melancholy of a world vanishing in his own lifetime.

Featured Paintings

🐎 Waiting for a Chinook (1886) - A starving cow under a frozen sky during the brutal Montana winter of 1886–87. Painted at just twenty-two, this watercolor was Russell’s first masterpiece — a quiet, devastating image that earned him his reputation as the “Cowboy Artist.”

🐎 Smoke of a .45 (1908) - A split second of frontier justice. A cowboy leaps from his horse to return fire at a thief as smoke curls across the dust. The West at full gallop: raw, immediate, and lived rather than imagined.

🐎 In the Wake of the Buffalo Hunters (1911) - Blackfoot hunters race across the plains in a cinematic burst of energy. Russell captures both the thrill of the chase and the tragedy of a vanishing world — the buffalo thundering into history’s shadow.

🐎 When the Land Belonged to God (1914) - A vision of untouched America. Herds of bison graze beneath an endless sky, painted with reverence and regret. It’s Russell’s prayer for the land before fences, steam, and steel — an elegy for innocence.

🐎 Salute of the Robe Trade (1920) - A mounted band of Plains people rides toward a frontier fort, rifles raised skyward in celebration of trade and peace. Painted near the end of Russell’s life, it honors diplomacy, dignity, and the shared customs that once bound two worlds together.

🪶 A Note from the Hosts

We’re not professional art historians, just two people with a love for Western art, history, and culture.
This project is done out of passion and respect for the artists and eras that shaped our world. All images are drawn from public domain and museum archives (Wikimedia Commons, Gilcrease Museum, C.M. Russell Museum, Amon Carter Museum).

📚 About the Series

The Autist’s Circle explores the great movements and artists of Western art, from the Baroque to Romanticism and beyond, one painting at a time.

We combine visual analysis, historical context, and storytelling to make each episode a deep, immersive look at how art, culture, and history intertwine.

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Perfect for lovers of art this one-hour livestream offers fresh insights, vivid storytelling, and close looks at masterpieces that defined an era.

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avatars provided by ‪@trymsartshack‬

Music: Antonín Dvořák – Symphony No. 9 “From the New World”

Presentation is here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/...

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