Native Americans on Horseback by Charles M. Russell

Native Americans on Horseback c. 1892 - 1895

drawing

water colours

possibly oil pastel

handmade artwork painting

fluid art

underpainting

united-states

painting painterly

watercolour bleed

watercolour illustration

watercolor

warm toned green

Charles M. Russell's "Native Americans on Horseback," a watercolor painting completed between 1892 and 1895, captures the dynamism of Native American horseback riding. The artwork depicts five riders galloping across a vast, open plain, their feathered headdresses and spears adding to the scene's sense of movement and purpose. Russell, known for his depictions of the American West, conveys the beauty and strength of Native American culture through his use of vibrant colors and meticulous detail. This painting, now housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, serves as a reminder of the history and heritage of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Comments

minneapolisinstituteofart about 1 year ago

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What was Charles Russell’s relationship to Native Americans' He is known as a painter of “cowboys and Indians,” but the nuances of his life and work are predictably more complicated. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, he left school for Montana at age 16, where he worked on a sheep ranch as a cowboy. During the summer of 1888, Russell lived near the Piegan and the Kainai Nation, members of the Blackfeet Confederacy. His interaction with these communities was always at a distance but his observations fueled his art. Russell may have stood out in his time by expressing support for some Native American issues but from today’s vantage point his work romanticizes and others Native people in a perpetual past.