Nature’s Cattle

Additional Information

For Russell, the near extinction of the buffalo in the American West symbolized the passing of a great era. He himself would participate in efforts to restore the herds, efforts that eventually bore fruit. Nature’s Cattle depicts a family of buffalo—bull, cow, and calf—in a line suggestive of and hopeful about the continuity of this great American species. Nancy Russell wrote that this buffalo family was “trailing as though going to water,” and Rick Stewart agrees, referring to a roundup of buffalo Russell witnessed in 1908, “During the roundup, which took place along the Pend d’Oreille River on the Flathead Indian reservation, the artist would have seen the animals going to water many times.” (p. 174). Prominent New Mexico rancher Albert K. Mitchell, who once owned this work, donated the bulk of his splendid collection to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

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Please note that the first unframed photo is most accurate for color. Framed photographs are to show the frame and are not color corrected to the painting.

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