Old and New
You just can’t ever escape Charlie Russell. The cowboy artist influenced almost everything in Western art. The artists idolize him, the curators fill their walls with his work and collectors scramble for a Russell when it hits the market, which is why his pieces so regularly sell for six and seven figures. We’ve been recording episodes for our American Art
Collective podcast and Russell comes up so frequently we’ve come to refer to him as a “friend of the podcast.” And he died 95 years ago!
Russell is also the central figure of the C.M. Russell Museum and its annual event The Russell, which is previewed in this issue. The auction portion of the weekend usually gets some terrific works by Russell, and this year is no exception. As an added bonus to the event, the museum often hosts a Russell-themed exhibition. This year they’re showing Modest Yet Masterful, which examines Russell’s smaller-sized works. They’re also presenting a Winold Reiss exhibition that is stellar!
So if you read the magazine you’re familiar with Charlie Russell, and also artists like Reiss, Frederic Remington, Joseph Henry Sharp, Frank Tenney Johnson and many other historic Western artists.
But that’s only half the story.
Every issue of Western Art Collector is also devoted to contemporary Western painters and sculptors. These are artists living today who are out there creating from their studios and continuing the traditions that Russell and others started. In this issue alone, we have Amy Lay, Sean Michael Chavez, Howard Post, Jeremy Winborg, Ron Rencher, Mateo Romero, Oreland Joe, Tom Browning and many others. Not only do we feature these artists’ works, we also talk to them about their studios, find out what is inspiring them and dig into their art philosophies.
Western Art Collector is about the old and new, and everything in between.
Michael Clawson
Executive Editor mclawson@westernartcollector.com