Charles Marion Russell was an American painter of the Old West whose large catalog of work has left a great wealth of scenes and images which would have been forgotten otherwise. Russell was born in 1864 in St. Louis Missouri, but was sent away to a military school in New Jersey until 1880. After leaving the school, he traveled to Montana where he worked as a sheepherder and spent approximately six months living with the Blood Indians where he continued to work on his skill of painting and drawing. 1890 was the year that Charles Russell’s paintings began to gain popularity and his true career as an artist started. By 1903, the paintings of Charles Russell began to show up in popular magazines of the day such as McClure’s. From then on, Charles Marion Russell artwork exploded in popularity to such an extent that he was holding major art shows. By 1920, even small paintings of Charles Russell could reach prices of $10,000. The primary reason that Charles Marion Russell oil paintings began to reach such high prices was that the Old West content of his paintings was a source of nostalgia for many. At the time in which Russell was painting these works, the American Old West was undergoing huge changes as populations shifted and towns developed. The Indian raids of the past were no longer occurring as tribes had been relocated to reservations and large herds of buffalo no longer roamed free. Paintings such as Indian Buffalo Hunt, Meat’s not Meat ‘til it’s in the Pan, Loops and Swift Horses are Surer than He and Bronc to Breakfast, all captured the spirit of the Old West with titles to fit. Part of the appeal of the paintings of Charles Russell was the humor and realistic portrayal of a time in American history that had passed quickly due to so many circumstances, both inflicted by American culture and nature. In the technical aspects of Charles Marion Russell’s paintings, the primary focus of the artist was portraying the West and portraying it accurately. The personality of the stories he displayed within his paintings are as individual as the life that he wanted to live as a cowboy, just a few years too late. Sources agree that the main reason that Charles Marion Russell reached such a great level of success was due to his wife, Nancy Cooper, who took great interest in the business potentials of her husband’s works. Despite the time being an age of restrictions for women, Nancy made several gains for her husband’s career by first encouraging him to become more productive, but also by scheduling trips to New York where she felt higher prices could be obtained for his authentic work. Her plan worked, as the trips resulted in paid illustrations for magazines, his own art show on Fifth avenue, and escalating prices for collectors to own an original piece of Charles Marion Russell artwork.