Charlie Russell: Tale-Telling Cowboy Artist - Hardcover

Harris, Lois

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1589807588 ISBN 13: 9781589807587

Publisher: Pelican Publishing, 2010

Synopsis

As a boy, Charlie Russell shaped small clay figures and drew pictures. He would one day become known as the Cowboy Artist. In this picture-book biography, young readers will discover the tales of the Old West that his much-admired art and writings tell. As a young boy in the 1870s, Charlie Russell had two passions: art and the West. When he was just fifteen, he established himself as a ranch hand in Montana Territory, where he was able to draw upon his surroundings to develop his artistic gifts. Soon, he was living the life he had always imagined. Twenty-three samples of the artist's paintings and sculptures illustrate this biography, a story that traces Russell's life from young man to cowboy.

About this title

About the Author

Lois V. Harris writes to inspire children to follow their dreams. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in children's magazines and the L.A. Times. She is the author of Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter, award-winning Charlie Russell: Tale-Telling Cowboy Artist, and her newest, Maxfield Parrish: Painter of Magical Make-Believe. Harris is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Authors Guild, the University of Washington Alumni Association, and the Seattle Art Museum. She lives with her family and two cats in Anacortes, Washington, and enjoys visiting museums and learning about art.

From the Back Cover

"This is a delightful book for young readers about the greatest artist and storyteller of the old American West-Charlie Russell."
-Raphael James Cristy, author of Charles M. Russell: The Storyteller's Art

"I lived to play and I'm playing yet."
-Charlie Russell

The story of a boy who fulfilled two lifelong dreams unfolds in this picture-book biography for young readers. A talented self-taught artist, young Charlie Russell loved the West and tales of settling the frontier. He would skip school to sit at the docks and listen to stories about gun-shooting bandits, grizzly bears, and hungry wolves.
Born to be an artist, Russell was obsessed with drawing and sculpting figures from the tales he heard. He moved from Missouri to Montana when he was a teenager to work on cattle ranches as a real cowboy. After a hard day's work, he would sit around the campfire, telling stories and sketching Western scenes. His talent developed until he decided to paint and sculpt full time and sold his pictures to books, calendars, and magazines.
Charlie Russell was the first Western artist to live predominantly in the West and have firsthand knowledge of his subject matter, though many artists after him would follow his example. The sculptures and paintings that delighted his friends now delight Western art fans at the C. M. Russell Museum. A collection of approximately two thousand pieces remains in Russell's adopted home of Great Falls, Montana.

[Back flap]
Lois V. Harris's fiction, nonfiction, and photography have appeared in children's magazines and the L.A. Times. The author of Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter, available from Pelican, Harris is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Authors Guild, the University of Washington Alumni Association, and the Seattle Art Museum. She lives with her family and two cats in Anacortes, Washington, and enjoys visiting museums and learning about art.

From the Inside Flap

"This is a delightful book for young readers about the greatest artist and storyteller of the old American West-Charlie Russell."
-Raphael James Cristy, author of Charles M. Russell: The Storyteller's Art

"I lived to play and I'm playing yet."
-Charlie Russell

The story of a boy who fulfilled two lifelong dreams unfolds in this picture-book biography for young readers. A talented self-taught artist, young Charlie Russell loved the West and tales of settling the frontier. He would skip school to sit at the docks and listen to stories about gun-shooting bandits, grizzly bears, and hungry wolves.
Born to be an artist, Russell was obsessed with drawing and sculpting figures from the tales he heard. He moved from Missouri to Montana when he was a teenager to work on cattle ranches as a real cowboy. After a hard day's work, he would sit around the campfire, telling stories and sketching Western scenes. His talent developed until he decided to paint and sculpt full time and sold his pictures to books, calendars, and magazines.
Charlie Russell was the first Western artist to live predominantly in the West and have firsthand knowledge of his subject matter, though many artists after him would follow his example. The sculptures and paintings that delighted his friends now delight Western art fans at the C. M. Russell Museum. A collection of approximately two thousand pieces remains in Russell's adopted home of Great Falls, Montana.

[Back flap]
Lois V. Harris's fiction, nonfiction, and photography have appeared in children's magazines and the L.A. Times. The author of Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter, available from Pelican, Harris is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the Authors Guild, the University of Washington Alumni Association, and the Seattle Art Museum. She lives with her family and two cats in Anacortes, Washington, and enjoys visiting museums and learning about art.

Reviews

Grade 2–4—Russell, the great Western painter and sculptor, set out from Missouri for the Montana Territory in 1879, when he was 15. The free-spirited teen, given to skipping school, grew into an adventurous young man who was eager to capture what he saw in his art. Russell was also a good storyteller, and eventually his tales were published in magazines. This picture-book biography follows the design of Harris's Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter (Pelican, 2007), noting facts in short paragraphs paired with photographs and Russell's artwork. While the pieces are not presented in chronological order, they are representative of his body of work. Details are listed in the back of the book, but dimensions are omitted. This is an attractive catalog, but for an appealing read-aloud biography try Jeanette Winter's Cowboy Charlie (Houghton, 1995).—Lisa Glasscock, Columbine Public Library, Littleton, CO
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Edition details

• Publisher: Pelican Publishing
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1589807588
• ISBN 13: 9781589807587
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32