Charles Marion Russell

(1864-1926)

The Judith Round Up at Sage Creek 9 3/4 x 13 1/2 in. framed 15 x 19 in.

Footnotes

Provenance
The artist.
Charlie Mix, saloonkeeper, Stanford, Montana, gifted directly from the artist, circa 1886.
William Richard Wood (1859-1929), purchaser of the saloon above, Stanford, Montana and Oakland, California.
By descent to his son, Raymond Mayer Wood (1894-1938).
By descent to his son, Dr. Ray Marshall Wood, Jr. (1928-2007), Los Altos, California.
By descent to the present owners, The Wood Family Trust, Alameda, California.

Literature
B. Byron Price, Charles M. Russell: A Catalogue Raisonné, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 2007, p. 60, note 22.
Charles M. Russell, A Catalogue Raisonné, online only, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, reference #CR.UNL.312.

The Judith Round Up at Sage Creek is an important early example of the type of humorous, narrative action paintings that Charles Marion Russell is celebrated for.

In this early period, Russell preferred to gift paintings to friends, rather than sell them, and often included their likenesses in the scenes.¹ The present work was in fact a gift from Russell to Charlie Mix, a saloon owner in Stanford, Montana, located in Judith Basin County. The artist and Charlie Mix were acquainted through working together on the round up depicted in the painting, circa 1884-1886. Other examples of Russell's practice of presenting his work to friends from this period include: two watercolors from 1883 painted for Jasper McFry, who is featured in one; Breaking Camp [No. 1], circa 1886, gifted to Jesse Phelps by the artist; and two works, Western Scene [The Shelton Saloon Painting], circa 1885 and Cowboy Camp during the Roundup, circa 1887, that were presented to saloon owner James R. Shelton of Utica, Montana.²

The Judith Round Up at Sage Creek has an extensive inscription written by W.R. Wood on the entirety of the reverse that reads: "This painting was presented to Charlie Mix (Saloon Keeper of Stanford Mont) by Charlie M. Russell where it hung until the saloon was sold as is. This painting is of an actual incident on the Judith Round Up at Sage Creek 1885 or 6. The present owner worked with Russell on this Round Up in 1884-5-6. He was a real cowboy as well as an artist and was well liked by all who knew him. / W.R. Wood. [brand device] / Stanford Mon." It is further inscribed in another hand lower left verso: "641- 56th St Oakland Cal."

Like Mix, W.R. Wood also worked alongside Russell on round ups during this period. The brand that Wood illustrates on his statement was issued on April 20, 1885 to "Wm R. Wood & Frank W. Mitchell, Stanford, Fergus County. Brand for cattle and horses on left shoulder".³ Wood was residing at the Oakland address in 1917.⁴ The grandson of W.R. Wood, Ray M. Wood Jr., corresponded with Perry Bass in a letter dated September 8, 1965 regarding the present work, and this is referenced in note 22 in Charles M. Russell: A Catalogue Raisonné: "Russell also did a painting...about 1885 for Stanford, Montana, saloonkeeper Charlie Mix, showing a humorous incident during a roundup on Sage Creek in the Judith Basin." ⁵

As Russell worked to promote his work in this early period, having his paintings hung in saloons was critical. Exposure to Russell's work in that type of social setting worked to expand the artist's audience of potential buyers and helped to advocate for the artistic merits of his authentic first-hand accounts of life in the West. ⁶

In The Judith Round Up at Sage Creek, Russell focuses the composition on a moment of hijinks during a branding session. Two cowboys on horseback have lost control of a roped steer who charges two other cowboys working with the branding irons. While one cowboy is on the ground trampled by an escaping calf, another cowboy, perhaps Charlie Mix, leaps toward the viewer with outstretched arms, just clearing the branding fire's flames. Russell completes the scene with a large herd of waiting steer and a team of mounted cowboys in the middle ground, and hints at the Western setting with distant snow-capped mountains.

Early examples like The Judith Round Up at Sage Creek show the "youthful exuberance" and "unschooled natural talent" that would lead Russell to become one of the most important practitioners of Western Art in America history.⁷

The painting is accompanied by original copies of Ginger Renner's certification letter discussing the painting, dated January 5, 1995.

¹ B. Byron Price, Charles M. Russell: A Catalogue Raisonné, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma, 2007, p. 8.
² Price, pp. 8 and 60.
³ 1873-1910 Brand Registrations, p. 292.
⁴ Oakland Tribune, "Exemption Boards Named by Mayor," column 3, June 10, 1917.
⁵ Price, p. 60.
⁶ Ibid., p. 9.
⁷ Ibid., pp. 9 and 14.