CHARLES M. RUSSELL

The Scout, 1907. Charles M. Russell.
Pencil, watercolor, and gouache on paper, 16 3/4 × 11 5/8 inches. Sid Richardson Museum.

Russell did not often paint the Pawnees, but when he did he made them easily identifiable by the distinctive roach hair style favored by their men in the buffalo hunting days. Pawnee warriors often spent hours painting their horses, braiding their tails, fastening colored feathers in their manes and painting their own faces in preparation for battle against the Sioux. Russell’s fine study of the solitary warrior, mounted and poised for action, shows the artist at the top of his form.