During the first half of the Auction, Andy Thomas’ oil on canvas “Russell Paints a Masterpiece” sold for $200,000 Saturday night at the Russell: the Auction to Benefit the C.M. Russell Museum.
The painting was estimated to top out at $85,000.
The bidders loved it – a painting depicting C.M. Russell, young artist Joe DeYong looking on, eyeing a nearly finished painting of bison galloping over the plains. He was the middle-aged C.M. Russell, the superstar of the American art world.
The real life DeYong traveled to Great Falls from the east in 1914 specifically to meet and study under Russell. Thomas’ painting is at once an homage to Russell and an exercise in drama and balance.
The buyer of the Thomas painting said he wasn’t surprised to see it go for so much.
“We just bought it because we like it,” said the buyer.
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