Charles M. Russell and His Friends

This is a painting by Charles Marion Russell, depicting himself in the foreground. It provides a very romanticized images of the American west. In the middle of the picture, cowboys and Native Americans are involved in a skirmish. The Native Americans are obviously being overpowered by the cowboys, who are riding them down.  There is a sense of adventure, movement and overt masculinity. The Native Americans are putting up a fight, appealing to a need for danger, but they are obviously going to lose, which ties in to the feeling of superiority that is a part of 'manifest destiny'. Here, it is inevitable that the white man will triumph and the painting suggests that this is the natural order of things.

By depicting the fight, it also supports the ideas of historian Frederick Jackson Turner, who wrote a paper in which he argued that the progress and challenges faced by those moving west was what gave Americans their national identity. He also argued along Darwinian survival of the fittest lines, and in this painting we are shown that the white settlers are the fittest, meaning that the Native Americans have become obsolete in this landscape. Although proved wrong by later historians, his theories maintain popularity and can be seen in the romanticism that surrounds the West and in paintings such as this one.

The background shows a wide expanse of land, ranging from grasses to rivers, to mountains. It has everything that people could want to start a fresh life, thus encouraging the westward movement into what was thought of as the uninhabited parts of America, even though the Native Americans lives in some of these places. The sun shines down on the land, making it look inviting and idyllic. This reflects how the West was depicted as a type of Garden of Eden.

In the left hand corner of the painting is a skeleton of what might be a bison. These were hunted for sport as well as for their fur and meat by the pioneers. It foreshadows the near-extinction that would face the bison because of this.

Standing in the foreground of all this is Russell himself, gesturing to the scene. His attitude is one of invitation, as if encouraging the viewer to move westward and become a part of the excitement and adventure that awaits him there, and to exploit the perfect landscape. It has overtones of a travel advert, promising a romanticized lifestyle to the west.