Artifact into Art: the C.M. Russell Studio Collection

In celebration of the reopening of the Russell Studio and in recognition of the recent historical conservation work that has been completed on the studio and the studio collection, the C.M. Russell Museum is excited to be organizing a summer exhibit that highlights Russell’s ethnographic and prop collection. Artifact into Art: the C.M. Russell Studio Collection will pair together studio props and their counterpart facsimiles that appear in Russell’s finished works. In doing so, the exhibition will help elucidate Russell’s artistic process for museumgoers.

The exhibition will present an overview of Russell’s studio collection and his collecting habits and examine the important role that his visual props and artifacts played in the creation of his art. It will feature major works of Russell’s art in the museum’s collection and be divided into four sections that look at Women and Interiors, Clothing, Weapons, and Riding Gear.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website