Russell works draw big bids at art auction

RENO -- Two pieces of artwork by Charles M. Russell -- a painting depicting a stagecoach holdup and a bronze sculpture of two Indians on a buffalo hunt -- have sold for more than $9 million at auction.

"The Hold Up," an oil painting completed by the Montana artist in 1899, rustled up $5.2 million Saturday, said Bob Drummond, a co-founder of the Coeur d'Alene Art Auction, now held in Reno.

The bronze "Meat for Wild Men," completed in 1924, fetched $4.1 million, he said.

At the 2005 auction, Russell's "Piegans" image of Indians on horseback went for $5.6 million, more than double the artist's previous auction high.

The annual auction, which began in 1984, is billed as the largest Western art sale in the country.

"Everybody loves Charles Russell," Drummond said Sunday. "The Western collectors, everyone wants to own a Russell."

The buyers were unidentified private collectors from the West. Each Russell piece drew four or five bidders.

The painting had been on display at the Mint Saloon in Great Falls, Mont., until 1952, when the work was sold to the Amon G. Carter Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. The foundation was the painting's current seller.

"It's an iconic painting, probably one of the most famous he ever did," Drummond said.

A private collector from California put the bronze up for sale. Only four of the bronzes depicting the Indian buffalo hunt were cast, and the others are in museums.

"He did many bronzes, but this was the rarest," Drummond said. "He made more copies of the other ones."

Russell, who captured the landscapes and spirit of the West during the late 1800s and early 1900s, died in 1926 at the age of 62.

A total of 178 works were sold Saturday at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino for a company sales record of $36.8 million. The event drew more than 450 bidders.

"The big story is that you can have an auction and sell $37 million in this economy," Drummond said. "It was much higher than we expected, and we were surprised we could do so well.

"The stock market has been taking a hit, and we think some people are spreading their assets around," he said.