On the Trail 1902

Charles M. Russell made ‘On the Trail’ with watercolor, and you can see his process right there on the surface. Look at how he lets the paint run! It’s like he's not trying to control it, but rather letting the water do its thing. The way he builds up those transparent layers gives a sense of depth and distance, but also a kind of haziness, like a memory. I love how the shadow of the horse and rider kind of melts into the ground – it's both there and not there, solid but also ephemeral. Then check out the details on the shield. It's so precise and deliberate, which really pops against the looser washes of the landscape. Russell is definitely having a conversation with artists like Frederic Remington, but while Remington is all about the heroic and the grand, Russell brings a more intimate, human touch to the Western genre. It's a reminder that art is never really finished, it's always just in process.