Charlie Russell's Stereotypes

Charlie Russell is a famous painter mostly known for his paintings on the Montana lifestyle. Some of his most famous paintings are of situations involving American Indians. But, how does he really depict them? Did he make it so they look and act real, or did he paint them as their stereotypes? Personally, I think that the Russell portrayed the American Indians in a respectful and realistic way.

One way Russell depicts them is based on real events. The paintings I’m going to reference for this example are “Lewis and Clark Meeting Indians at Ross’ Hole” and “York”. The way he presents the American Indian men riding horses in the forefront of the first painting can be seen as a sign of respect. He also showed how helpful they were to the Corps of Discovery. He showed the American Indians giving them blankets and supplies to the newcomers, along with welcoming them. In the second painting, he showed a realistic image of how the American Indians acted around York. He shows them staring in awe. They had never seen someone with York’s skin color before. There is no malicious intent hidden in this painting. Saying that, he had a pretty good idea of

If you look at the painting “The Ambush”, you can see that they are depicted in a violent way. They are stopped just around the corner from a herd of animals. Another painting I’m going to reference is “Indian Hunters Return”. In this painting, you can see a calmer aspect of his view on the American Indian life. He had made sure that he had shown this event correctly, as it was an important time for the Blackfeet tribe and would be wrong to misrepresent it. There’s another example of Russell depicting American Indians this way. The other painting is ‘Inside the Lodge”. In this one he shows a mother and her baby. There are many real artifacts in this painting that Russell referenced from things that he owned. This is another example of him respecting