The live auction to Benefit the C.M. Russell Museum on Saturday, March 16, made a total of over $3.1 million in gross sales. The C.M. Russell Museum raised an approximate gross total of $3.6 million through The Russell, its primary fundraiser.
The Russell live auction featured eight original Charles M. Russell artworks, including several watercolors, sculptures, and an illustrated letter, which sold for a total of $1,476,500. Russell’s 1919 watercolor High, Wide, and Handsome set the new record at $550,000 for the highest-priced piece sold at The Russell live auction. Another world record was set when R. Tom Gilleon’s Hair Apparent sold for $225,000, the highest price ever gathered for a Gilleon piece. Andy Thomas’s Russell Paints a Masterpiece sold for $200,000 in an exciting bidding war that resulted in the crowd erupting in cheers with the final bid. The Masterson Company, Inc. and the La Crosse Milling Company sponsored the event.
The mission of the C.M. Russell Museum is to collect, preserve, research, interpret, and educate on the art and life of Charles M. Russell; the art and life of his contemporaries; and the art of preceding and ensuing generations that depicts and focuses on the culture, life, and country of Russell’s West.