Lake McDonald 1901

Charles M. Russell made this landscape painting of Lake McDonald during a time when the American West was undergoing significant transformation. As industrialization and settlement expanded, artists like Russell played a crucial role in shaping the image, and often the myth, of the West. Russell, who spent much of his life in Montana, often focused on scenes of cowboys and Native Americans, contributing to a romanticized view of frontier life. While his work celebrates the rugged beauty of the landscape, we might also ask ourselves whose stories are centered, and whose are marginalized, in this visual narrative? How does his rendering of the landscape reflect or challenge the era’s prevailing attitudes toward nature, progress, and cultural identity? "I have been all over the West," Russell once said, "and I have seen it change." As you consider this painting, think about how Russell captures not just a place, but a moment in time, laden with complex cultural and historical meanings.