Western and Contemporary Native American Art

Provenance:

Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, Reno, Sale of July 25, 1998, Lot 113.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Lot Note:

Charles Marion Russell painted bison hunting so many times that it is reasonable to assume that it counted as one of his favorite subjects, as scholar Frederic G. Renner once ventured. A Close Call depicts a bison stampede, but as far as we can tell, not one caused by methodical hunting. Instead, what we witness is a disorderly herd of bison furiously trampling the prairie and a tripod folding camera left in its path. Just above the herd, awkwardly holding on to the branches of a nearby tree, is the photographer who narrowly escaped the rush. The scene, as thrilling as it looks, also provides comic relief. Russell was indeed well known for instilling humor in his visual storytelling.

But the stampede is also a commentary on the role of the artist as a pioneer, especially in the wild West. Exploring and documenting the frontier comes with great peril, in a literal sense, but also from a cultural standpoint. The respectful and realistic recording of history, of fast-evolving landscapes and territories, is a difficult and fraught endeavor. The unstoppable horde of bison epitomizes the seemingly indomitable and ungraspable awesomeness of the West, which often humbled frontiersmen and artists alike.

It is noteworthy that Russell portrayed the artist in the fray of wilderness as a photographer rather than a painter. While he was intrigued by the relatively new medium of photography, Russell remained an unabashed proponent of painting as the superior way to tell the complex, dynamic and thrilling story of the West. Undoubtedly, in A Close Call, Russell indulges in good-natured, but resolute, teasing of the technological innovations of this time, in defense of his own aesthetic.