Charles Marion "Charlie" Russell was a famous artist who painted and sculpted scenes of the Old West, especially life in Montana.

Charles M. Russell was born on March 19, 1864, near St. Louis, Missouri, and as a boy he loved drawing animals and modeling tiny figures from wax and clay. At age 16 he followed his dream of becoming a cowboy and moved to Montana, where he worked on ranches for about 11 years, watching cowboys, Native Americans, and wildlife and sketching whenever he had free time. One of his early pictures, a small scene of a starving cow in the terrible winter of 1886-1887 called "Waiting for a Chinook," helped people notice his talent and led to more art jobs. Russell eventually settled in Great Falls, Montana, with his wife Nancy, created around 4,000 artworks in paint, bronze, and ink, and became known as the "cowboy artist" because he had truly lived the life he showed in his pictures. Today, many of his paintings and sculptures can be seen at the C. M. Russell Museum in Great Falls and at the Montana Historical Society and State Capitol in Helena.