The Death Song of Lone Wolf

Charles M. Russell was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Shortly after his sixteenth birthday, he left for Montana to pursue his lifelong dream of being a cowboy. Russell worked as a cowboy and wrangler for eleven years and documented his experiences through sketches, paintings, and modeled figures. His close observation of Native Americans is revealed through details in this painting that indicate the tribal or even individual identities of some of the men. The man at the left, running alongside a horse, is likely of the Apsáalooke (Crow) or Assiniboine tribe. The shield in the forefront with a thunderbird above a four-pointed form belonged to a man called Swift Dog (1834–1925), of the Oglala Lakota, and is now in the collection of the Minikhada Country Club. The scene portrayed has long been thought to be inter-tribal conflict, though it is unknown if Russell was showing a specific or imagined event.