Caught in the Act 1888

Charles M. Russell made this oil painting, Caught in the Act, depicting an encounter on the Montana plains. We can see how the image creates meaning through visual codes and historical associations. Russell made this image around the turn of the century, as the frontier was closing. The painting depicts the tense moment when white cattlemen catch native people butchering a stolen steer. In the background, more cattle can be seen moving along the horizon, suggesting the cattlemen have claimed the land as their own. The image may be read as a confrontation between traditional ways of life and the modernizing forces of the cattle industry. To understand it better, historians might consult government records of treaty negotiations, census data, and even advertisements produced by railroad companies encouraging westward expansion. Seen in this light, Caught in the Act is a powerful reflection on the social conditions that shaped artistic production in the American West.