He savvied the cow, the grass, the blizzard,
the drought, the wolf, the young puncher in love with his own
shadow, the old waddie remembering rides and thirsts of far
away and long ago. He was a wonderful storyteller, and most of
his pictures tell stories. He never generalized, painting "a
man," "a horse," "a buffalo" in the abstract. His subjects are
warm with life, whether awake or asleep, at a particular
instant, under particular conditions. _Trails Plowed Under_,
prodigally illustrated, is a collection of yarns and anecdotes
saturated with humor and humanity. It incorporates the
materials in two Rawhide Rawlins pamphlets. _Good Medicine_,
published posthumously, is a collection of Russell's letters,
illustrations saying more than written words.
Russell's illustrations have enriched numerous range books, B.
M. Bower's novels, Malcolm S. Mackay's _Cow Range and Hunting
Trail_, and Patrick T. Tucker's _Riding the High Country_
being outstanding among them. Tucker's book, autobiography,
has a bully chapter on Charlie Russell. _Charles M. Russell,
the Cowboy Artist: A Bibliography_, by Karl Yost, Pasadena,
California, 1948, is better composed than its companion
biography, _Charles M.
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