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Long before the silver screen mythologized the American West, Charles M. Russell had already etched it into bronze and canvas. But in the twilight of his life, Russell wasn’t just painting cowboys. He was rubbing elbows with movie stars. When Charlie and Nancy Russell began wintering in Southern California in 1920, they weren’t merely escaping the Montana cold. They were entering a lively, evolving cultural hub where artists, filmmakers, and writers mingled freely. And where the Old West met the New Hollywood. Russell’s ties to Tinseltown may sound like an unlikely chapter in the life of a Western artist, but [...]

From Cowboy to Costume Designer: Joe De Yong and the Art Behind Hollywood’s Westerns Before Clint Eastwood donned his poncho or John Wayne rode into the sunset, there was a young cowboy from Oklahoma with a sketchpad and a dream. Joe De Yong’s life reads like a Hollywood script: cowboy, artist, silent film actor, survivor, and ultimately the bridge between Western art and the golden age of Western cinema. But unlike many stars on the silver screen, De Yong never craved the spotlight. Instead, he worked behind the scenes, shaping the imagery of the American West that generations of moviegoers [...]

Cowboys are back. From streaming sensations like Yellowstone and 1883 to Oscar-nominated films like The Power of the Dog, the American West is once again galloping through our cultural imagination. But this isn't the first time the West has captured our collective attention—nor is it a new story. Long before cameras rolled in Monument Valley or grizzled heroes rode into dusty towns, the mythology of the West was painted in oils and sculpted in bronze. Artists like Frederic Remington and Charles Russell didn’t just illustrate the frontier, they invented the visual language that would define it for generations to come. [...]

At first glance, Charles Russell’s Trouble Hunters might appear to be exactly what it seems: a dynamic portrayal of a war party riding across the rugged Montana terrain, bathed in a rich, golden light. But for Sid Richardson Museum Director Scott Winterrowd, the painting held a mystery just below the surface—literally. What started as a hunch led to a journey through art history, scientific analysis, and the mind of a self-taught Western master. Beneath the vibrant brushstrokes and heroic figures lies a story of artistic revision and discovery, centered around a legendary warrior named White Quiver. As it turns out, [...]

Featured in our current exhibit, Remington and Russell in Black and White, is a drawing of a seemingly unusual sight: a soldier jumping on to a horse! This drawing is one of three images of horse acrobatics featured in an 1898 Harper’s New Monthly Magazine article, “The Essentials at Fort Adobe,” written and illustrated by Remington. The Fort Adobe he refers to in the article is actually Fort Robinson, a military post in Nebraska established in the early 1870s. Remington’s title was likely drawn from the adobe barracks that were built in 1887 to house the officers stationed there.   [...]

Our current exhibition, Remington and Russell in Black in White, examines both artists’ careers in illustration at the turn of the 20th century. Many of the artworks featured in the show are painted in grisaille, which is an art term for grayscale. These black and white works specifically functioned as the source for reproduction in books and magazines of Remington and Russell’s day. Both artists were very deliberate in how and why they were making these artworks to help tell the story of the American West as they imagined it. Let’s first take a closer look at Remington’s illustration career. [...]