C. M. RUSSELL’S (BLACKFOOT) “INDIAN MAIDEN AT STOCKADE”

"Indian Maiden at Stockade"

“Indian Maiden at Stockade” was one of cowboy artist Charlie Russell’s earliest paintings of a Blackfoot woman. And according to one authority it was one of his best portrayals of women; Ginger K. Renner in her manuscript Charlie and the Ladies in His Life, states:  “Russell’s interpretation of women in his art was empathetic, usually sensitive, and often complex. Never was that complexity more exemplified than in Indian Maid at Stockade.”

“Indian Maiden at Stockade” is on display at the C. M. Russell Museum in Great Falls, Montana as part of the “CHARLES M. RUSSELL: THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE AND ART” exhibition that will run through the summer of 2018. JP Morgan Chase is the sponsor of the exhibition, and the painting previously was in the office of Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JP Morgan Chase. When it was suggested to Mr. Dimon that having it in his office might be seen as inappropriate (probably because of its slightly risqué nature), he responded that it should be more prominently displayed outside his office.

The Blackfoot maiden who modeled for the painting “Indian Maiden at Stockade” was the teenage Josephine Wright. Both Charlie Russell, Josephine Wright and Nancy Cooper were living at the Ben and Lela Roberts’ Ranch in Cascade, Montana in 1895 when Charlie painted “Indian Maiden at Stockade.” The year 1895 is also significant because that is when Nancy Cooper, Charlie’s future wife, took a live-in job at the Robert’s ranch.

The granddaughter of Charlie’s model Josephine Wright is Nancy Josephine (Tharp) Clark and she was in attendance at the opening of the “CHARLES M. RUSSELL: THE WOMEN IN HIS LIFE AND ART” exhibition. Representatives of JP Morgan Chase were also in attendance, and they are seen here taking photographs of Nancy Clark in front of “Indian Maiden at Stockade”.

The host for the opening of the exhibition was Thomas Petrie, Chairman of the board of the C.M. Russell Museum. Mr. Petrie is known as the foremost private collector of C. M. Russell artwork. He had an illustrious career as an investment banker. Tom Petrie is a long-term member of the Board of Trustees of the Denver Art Museum. Tom Petrie and his wife Jane donated $5 million to an endowment and $3 million in cash for the Denver Art Museum’s Petrie Institute of Western American Art that develops scholarships and Western American art exhibitions. Here is Tom Petrie introducing Nancy Clark at the members’ opening of the exhibition.

Tom Petrie on the right introducing Nancy Clark in foreground

Tom Petrie also wrote an essay for the book Charles M. Russell: The Women in His Life and Art, which was launched at the opening of the exhibition. Here he is with his co-authors at a book signing on the night of the opening of the exhibition.

Book signing - Tom Petrie seated and Nancy Clark with the new book on C. M. Russell