FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Sharon Burchett
(405) 325-5939; russellcenter@ou.edu
NORMAN – Award-winning historian Raphael James Cristy of Albuquerque will present a lecture, “Exploring Charlie Russell's Yarns,” at the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West at the University of Oklahoma School of Art. The lecture, part of the Merkel Family Foundation Distinguished Lecture Series, will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 10, in the Mary Eddy and Fred Jones Auditorium of the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 410 W. Boyd St .
Cristy's presentation will be followed by a reception and book signing at the center in the Old Faculty Club, 409 W. Boyd St . The lecture and reception are free and open to the public. Cristy will be signing copies of his new book, Charles M. Russell, The Storyteller's Art , published by the University of New Mexico Press . For more information on the Russell Center , visit http://art.ou.edu/russellcenter/ . For accommodations on the basis of disability, call (405) 325-5939.
Cristy uses his skills both as an historian and an actor to convey the breadth and depth of dozens of amusing tales that were first told aloud and then written down and illustrated in books and short stories by Charles M. Russell (1864-1926). Since 1984, Cristy has performed tales by Charles M. Russell on stages in 30 states, Canada and Australia, and he has been included in such events as A Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev., Michael Martin Murphey's WestFest in Vail, Col., the Northern Appalachian Storytelling Festival in Pennsylvania, Edmonton's International Fringe Theatre Festival in Alberta, Canada, and Australia's Sydney Festival. In 1994, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum awarded Cristy the Western Heritage Award for his essay on Russell ' s stories, “Charlie ' s Hidden Agenda,” first published in Montana , The Magazine of Western History .
Charles M. Russell was an open-range cowpuncher before becoming one of the most famous and sought-after artists of the American West. His patrons included many wealthy collectors and such celebrities as Douglas Fairbanks , silent film star William S. Hart and Edward, Prince of Wales. To Montana contemporaries, Charlie Russell was a popular and gifted storyteller. Will Rogers often said that his longtime friend Charlie Russell was “the best story-teller I ever heard.”
Sharing selected samples of Charlie Russell's droll humor and delightful narratives, Cristy presents fresh insights about this important artist, the times in which he lived and the A merican West. Charlie Russell's stories included good-natured roasts of his friends, tall tales, sharp social satire and serious yarns that often challenged stereotypes of Native Americans.
According to B. Byron Price, director of the Russell Center , “Raphael Cristy deals with an important, yet relatively unexplored aspect of the career of one of the most influential interpreters of the American West.” For more information about Charles M. Russell, The Storyteller's Art, as well as Cristy's lectures, performances and audio tapes, see http://www.charlierussell.com /raphael .
Founded in 1998, the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West is the first such university-based program in the nation. The center is dedicated to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge in the field of American art history as it relates to the western United States . Through its resource holdings, national symposia, lecture series, course offerings and outreach programs, the Russell Center actively engages students and the public in developing a better understanding of, and appreciation for, 19th- and 20th-century Euro-American and Native American artistic traditions. Special focus is given to the art of Charles M. Russell and his contemporaries.
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