Attack on the Red River Carts, 1903. Charles M. Russell.
Watercolor on board, 20 x 29 inches. Charles M. Russell Museum, Gift of Martha Ann Birch Davies.
The central group of Indians in this watercolor is superbly painted. The charging riders to the left are masterfully suggested with disparate areas of color, very abstract in feeling when viewed up close. The Indian in the buckskin shirt on the left behind the central figure is delineated with touches of pure color, all applied very loosely but with great assurance. The falling Indian on the right is drawn and washed in with unerring skill. The minute details on the central figure with the split-horn headdress seems to have been done with very fine brushes, and with greatest patience. In the center of the composition, Russell grouped the horses into a desperate ballet of furious motion, where a collision between them seems almost inevitable. (text courtesy of Rick Stewart, Ph.D., and the Amon Carter Museum of American Art)
