Charles Marion Russell was born on March 19, 1864 in Oak Hills, Missouri just outside of St. Louis. His family was wealthy, and expected him  to one day join the family business. However, from a young age Russell had a fascination with the west that could not be put out. Inspired by  stories of Cowboys and Indians his grandmother told him, Russell would then go down to the docks along the Mississippi River and hear tales from the fur trappers passing through. At age fourteen Russell ran away from home to Montana, but was quickly returned, and upon his return sent to Burlington Military Academy in New Jersey. After a year, the school gave up, and Russell was once again headed back to St. Louis, still determined as ever to one day go out west. For his sixteenth birthday present his parents finally allowed him to go to Montana to work as a ranch hand for a summer, but the moment he turned sixteen he never looked back, and he would remain there for the next forty-six years, with only a handful of trips back to St. Louis and the east here and there. For seven years Russell worked as a night herder at a cattle ranch in Judith Basin County of Montana. Russell had the days free to observe ranch life, making sketches and creating wax figurines. During this time he met renowned hunter and trapper Jake Hoover who taught him the ways of western life, and about animal migration and behavior. In February of 1887, Russell attached a small drawing, Waiting for a Chinook to a friend’s letter that was going to a ranch owner. It was this letter that began to draw attention to Russell, and even gained him some commissions. Up until this point he did not realize he could make a living off of his artwork, only using  his paintings to pay off debts and bar tabs in Helena, Montana. People out west did not have much of an interest in the subject matter because it was their daily life, but the East Coast audiences were enthralled with his portrayal of rugged western life. Russell spent the winters of 1888 and 1889 with the infamous and primitive, Kainai, or “Blood Indians” in Canada, and in 1888 one of his sketches appeared in Harper’s Bazaar gaining him national recognition. In 1892 Russell decided to become a full-time artist, quitting his ranch job, but it was not until September 6, 1896 when Russell married Nancy Cooper, fourteen years his junior, that the tides began to turn. Nancy completely changed his business, and it is thanks to her that Russell reached the success that he did. In 1898 Russell cast his first bronzes, and in 1903, at Nancy’s request they departed for New York to try and sell his artwork. They returned to Montana discouraged because they did not make one sale, but Nancy insisted they return the following year, and they did. In 1904 Tiffany’s purchased several of his bronzes, and recognition and commissions quickly followed for his sketches, paintings and bronzes. In 1911 he received his first solo exhibition at Folsom Gallery, New York, and by 1915 he was a national success. In 1925 he was honored by the Corcoran Gallery in D.C. with a special exhibition of his works. Charles Russell died of a heart attack on October 24, 1926. His museum, C.M. Russell Museum, is located in Great Falls, Montana.