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A Dangerous Situation
A Dangerous Situation
A Dangerous Situation

A Dangerous Situation

Artist (American, 1864 - 1926)
Date1897
Mediumoil on cardboard mounted on hardboard
Dimensions12 × 18 3/8 inches (30.5 × 46.7 cm)
Frame: 18 × 24 1/4 × 2 3/8 inches (45.7 × 61.6 × 6 cm)
Credit LineBequest of H.J. Lutcher Stark, 1965
Object number31.11.1
ClassificationsPaintings
Label TextIn Russell’s painting, a steer charges a cowboy and his horse as the rider attempts to rope the animal. This situation likely occurred when the cowboy needed to round up cattle for shipment to market. Russell is known as the “cowboy artist” because he used his experiences as a working cowboy in his art. In paintings like this one, he portrayed the cowboy in heroic action. Yet Russell realized the changes coming to the West meant that the days of the cowboy working on the open range were coming to an end. Russell identified with the West of the past and used a buffalo skull as part of his signature.
ProvenancePurchased June 26, 1957 though (E. W. Latendorf, New York, New York) by H.J. Lutcher Stark [1887-1965]; bequeathed September 2, 1965 to the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation; accessioned to the Stark Museum of Art
On View
On view
Incident near Square Butte
Charles Marion Russell
1897
Signaling Approach of White Men
Charles Marion Russell
1896
Georg Speck [To George Speck]
Charles Marion Russell
May 18, 1923
Friend Dick [To Richard Jones]
Charles Marion Russell
May 30, 1924
Richard Jones
Charles Marion Russell
February 8, 1923
Friend Goodwin [Philip R. Goodwin]
Charles Marion Russell
May 26, 1908
Friend Goodwin [Philip R. Goodwin]
Charles Marion Russell
May 26, 1908
Friend Goodwin [Philip R. Goodwin]
Charles Marion Russell
May 26, 1908
The Lunch Hour or A Happy Find
Charles Marion Russell
1910, recast c. 1955
Friend Goodwin [To Philip R. Goodwin]
Charles Marion Russell
September 7, 1909