After Charles Marion Russell
(American, 1864-1926)
Smoking Up (R-1), 1959
patinated bronze
inscribed on base: C.M. Russell, with the artist's device, also impressed with the Roman Bronze Works Inc. N.Y. foundry mark, and numbered No. 115 on the underside
11 1/2 x 9 3/4in (29.2 x 24.8cm)
Provenance:
With Helen L. Card, The Latendorf Bookshop, New York, 1959.
The Collection of Fritz & Lucy Jewett, San Francisco, California.

Footnote
The original work was modelled and cast by Roman Bronze Works, Inc. in 1904. A total of 14 casts were produced during Russell's lifetime. Arthur Harlow acquired the rights to the work from Nancy Russell around 1924. In 1949, the copyright for the bronze was sold by Arthur Harlow to Walter Latendorf, Mannados Bookshop of New York. It is known that Latendorf issued seventy casts between 1949 and his death in 1957, when Helen Card, his assistant, took over the business and renamed it The Latendorf Bookshop. A limited number of records exist on the castings issued by Card but it is known that she requested Roman Bronze Works return the original to her in about 1968.

Roman Bronze Works' records show that No. 117 was produced on May 14, 1959 so it stands to reason that the example offered here was produced sometime in the Spring of 1959.

Literature:
R. Stewart, Charles M. Russell: Sculptor, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX, 1994, pp. 142-146.

With an overall dark brown patina. General marks, scratches, rubbing and wear.