I don’t know about you, but when I was 16, if I had $3,500 dollars, I would be thinking about spending it on a new car. Not so with Tim Seery, a sophomore at C.M. Russell High School in Great Falls. An aspiring artist and volunteer at the C.M. Russell Museum, he decided to attend an annual Russell auction and bid on a painting titled “Matador Dance Program”. He said he’s been saving money from odd jobs and when he saw the “Matador” in the catalog, he sought the advice of an expert as to whether the piece was in his price range. The answer was affirmative, so he attended last Friday’s auction and competed with three others interested in the painting. After the auction, Seery said, “I was almost in disbelief that I was actually touching it”. The painting measures 6.5 inches by 4 inches and because it is unsigned, comes with a certificate of authenticity from Ginger Renner, a leading authority on Russell art. Charlie Russell depicted the true spirit of the American west in his paintings and signed his art with his initials,CmR and the sketch of a buffalo skull. Here’s a picture from two years ago of E and M standing by the front door of Charlie Russell’s art studio in Great Falls. I’ll leave you with that.
E and M in front of Charlie Russell’s art studio.
