NEW CHARLES M. RUSSELL BOOK LAUNCHED – PART 2: Of Fantasy and Fiction: C. M. Russell and the Female Form.” by Emily Crawford Wilson

Nancy Josephine Wright and Emily Crawford Wilson

Emily Crawford Wilson contributed chapter 2 to the Charles M. Russell Museum’s new publication entitled Charles M. Russell: The Women in His Life and Art.  Ms. Wilson’s chapter is “Of Fantasy and Fiction: C. M. Russell and the Female Form.” Ms. Wilson is the Curator of the C. M. Russell Museum. A central theme of Wilson’s essay is that Charlie Russell’s artwork depicting women, particularly the female form was derived from classical and oriental art. For instance, she theorizes that Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Venus with the Apple (1813-1816) may have served as a model, a stationary body to copy and use in two early nudes, Indian Maiden Braiding Her Hair (1898) and Wood Nymph (c. 1898).

“Between 1896 and 1899, Russell painted five images of reclining Indian maidens referred to as the Keeoma series: Keeoma (1896), Kee-oh-mee (1897), Keeoma (1898), The Dreamer (1898), and Waiting and Mad (1899). The first of these, titled after the Blackfoot word kee-o-mee (kiomi), meaning “over there” or “yonder,”was placed on display in Charles Schatzlein’s store in Butte, Montana. The Indian maiden took on a fictional identity in 1897, when Canadian journalist William Bleasdell Cameron wrote the story ‘Keeoma’s Wooing’ for the July 1897 issue of Western Field and Stream after having seen Russell’s painting. In each work, Russell weaves Orientalist motifs with exotic undertones. . .”

In this chapter, as in Ms. Troccoli’s chapter, the author Ms. Wilson makes mention of the seemingly only other non-white woman in Russell’s life and art. She states, “For models, Russell used himself and his wife, Nancy, and on occasion, he had Josephine Wright-Nancy’s mixed-race Blackfeet friend – pose for him as well. Decked out in Plains Indian finery and placed within these artfully arranged domestic interiors, Josephine and Nancy were transformed into the imaginary Indian maiden Keeoma.” (p. 51) Pictured above on the left with  author Emily Crawford Wilson is  Josephine Tharp Clark granddaughter of Josie Wright.