Charles Marion Russell

(American, 1864-1926)

Right Then’s Where the Ball Opens, c. 1925

pen and ink on paper

signed with monogram CMR and skull cipher (lower left); inscribed Right Then's Where the Ball Opens. 'Taint so bad till they strike / sage brush country. Then, first one an' then another / bounces by Bill's stead. / from (Bullard's Wolves) / More Rawhides, and with stamped attestation from the Estate of Nancy C. Russell, June 1941

9 1/4 x 15 1/4 inches.

The Estate of Henry V. Nickel, Potomac, Maryland

This lot is located in Denver.

The present lot is recorded in the C. M. Russell Catalogue Raisonné under reference number CR.DR.73.

Provenance:

Nancy Russell, Pasadena, California.

Homer E. Britzman, Los Angeles, California.

Hammer Bros., New York, New York, by 1957.

The Estate of Carol C. Maguire, Guilford, Connecticut, 1957.

Private Collection, by descent.

Coeur d’Alene Art Auction, Reno, Sale of July 29, 2017, Lot 36.

Acquired directly from the above sale.

Exhibited:

Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles Department of Municipal Art, August 29 – September 13, 1957, no. 101.

San Francisco, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, "Charles Marion Russell," September 19 – 28, 1957.

Helena, Historical Society of Montana Fine Arts Gallery, October 1 – 12, 1957, no. 101.

Great Falls, Trigg-C. M. Russell Foundation, October 14 – 26, 1957, no. 177.

Calgary, Calgary Allied Art Council, November 1 – 17, 1957.

New York, The New-York Historical Society, December 17, 1957 – Feb 2, 1958.

Lot Note:

In Right Then's Where the Ball Opens, Charles Marion Russell offers a magisterial illustration of wolfing, or wolf-roping, a historical practice and an iconic and recurring theme in Western Art. As their natural prey, buffalo, dwindled overtime, prairie wolves turned to cattle for food, and were soon reviled by ranchers for snatching cattle from their herds. As their reputation as pests became widespread, so did bounties on wolf scalps. In part to protect cattle, but also in no small part for the sheer entertainment it provided, cowboys quickly took up the habit of roping wolves when they came across them. Wolfing entailed skill and agility, as the animals—bold, ferocious, and prodigiously strong—were adept at dodging the rope. It comes as no surprise, then, that the prairie wolves and their misdeeds should have become part and parcel of Western mythology, lending the cowboy figure an aura of deftness, intrepidity and heroism.

Right Then’s Where the Ball Opens, c. 1925