Russell (Buskirk)
(1997-Saturn Books)

(by Amy Buskirk) While the title-page clearly registers this book as RUSSELL, an unclear spine & dust-wrapper has most book-dealers selling this as CHARLES RUSSELL. It appears that Barnes & Noble also released a near identical edition which has the same listing problems. This is a larger book (9-by-13-inches) of 128 pages. I guess this slightly larger format was considered an opportunity to give a large display to a number of paintings - 68 pages are taken up with large reproductions of 34 paintings laid over the book's central distorting gutter. I don't think this is a good presentation and though most are still 'o.k.' in that execution, an entire third fail completely and can only be marked as a waste of paper. After that, there are another 41 pages that each sport a single large painting reproduction. Note that they include several 'well-presented' examples of other western artists, namely, Karl Bodmer, Frederic Remington, and Charles Schreyvogel (2). Five more pages provide an introductory biography of the artist and almost all the rest are pictures depicting the artist or his sculptures.

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