Charles M. Russell (1864–1926) — Friend Ad Letter (1923)

Lot 195

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11944 North Tracey Road
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Coeur d’Alene Art Auction specializes in the finest classical Western and American Art representing past masters and outstanding contemporary artists. The auction principals have over 100 years of combined experience in selling fine art and have netted their clients over $325 million in the last fif...Read more

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Fine Western & American Art by Coeur d'Alene Art Auction

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Fine Western & American Art

By Coeur d'Alene Art Auction

Jul 31, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-07-31 14:00:00 2021-07-31 14:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Fine Western & American Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/coeur-dalene/fine-western-american-art-7138 The 2021 Coeur d’Alene Art Auction to be held July 31 in Reno, Nevada, will feature 394 selections of unparalleled quality in Western paintings and sculpture from historical and contemporary artists such as Charles M. Russell, Oscar Berninghaus, Walter Ufer, Frank Tenney Johnson, and more. Coeur d'Alene Art Auction info@cdaartauction.com

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Lot Description

Charles M. Russell (1864–1926)
Friend Ad Letter (1923)
watercolor and ink on paper
10 × 7.75 inches
signed lower right

VERSO
Label, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Friend Ad Letter is recorded in the C. M. Russell Catalogue Raisonné as reference number CR.ILU.154.

An original bill of sale dated 1975, and original typed letter from original owner to new owner regarding information about the Russell letter will accompany the lot.

According to Western art historian Brian W. Dippie, “Ad Day, general manager of the Knight-Watson Ranching Company in southern Alberta, was responsible for the bucking horses that gave the Canadian stampedes their formidable reputation. With Ray Knight, Day ran the show in 1918 at Lethbridge, and his friendship with Russell was solidified there. Charlie and Nancy sat in the grandstand with Day’s family, watching a titanic struggle between men and horses. In one competition, the Day horses scored a clean sweep, throwing every rider they faced and precipitating a near mutiny as contestants protested that the horses were ‘too large and too tough.’ Needless to say, Russell loved it. The next year in Saskatoon, the paper reported the arrival by train of an iron-grey mare that Day imported ‘especially for the Stampede.’ The mare could have been a gunslinger hired to mow down the enemy, the way it was described. ‘According to Mr. Day she has ‘some iron-grey disposition.’ Buck? Well, say. It took Mr. Day all the morning to get her four feet on the ground long enough at one time to detrain her. ‘She’ll do,’ was all that Mr. Day would say about her.’

“When Day asked for a reference in 1925, Russell responded enthusiastically. Ad Day, he wrote, is ‘a friend of mine who I have known many years.’ His people were cow folks, he was born in cow country, and he had ‘lived all his life on cow ranges he knows cows from Texas to the Saskatchewan north for maney years has handled riding and roping contests he knows that business from start to finish he baught and owned some of the most famus bucking horses in the northwest … when a bronco twister drew a Day horse he dident scratch much.”

PROVENANCE
Pete and Janet Taggares, Washington

LITERATURE
Brian W. Dippie, Charles M. Russell, Word Painter: Letters 1887 -1926, Amon Carter Museum, 1993, p. 339, illustrated

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Condition

As viewed through glass. Paper is yellowed and creased in corresponding sections where letter was folded to fit into the envelope, but is in good condition overall.