Eagle
Child, Mountain Chief, and Bear Medicine
Winold Reiss -- Pastel and Watercolor
Long-term loan from The CM Russell
Museum |
Winold Reiss (1888 -
1953) Born
near Munich, Germany, Winold's
father,enrolled him at the Royal Academy
of Fine Arts and the School of Applied
Arts. Winold fell in love with a fellow
student, Henrietta Luethy, and they
married in 1912. Reiss convinced his
bride that they should come to America.
When they arrived in New York the
following year, settling in New York
City. By 1918 he had saved enough money
to allow him to chase his dreams of the
West in real Indian country. In the fall
of 1919, he traveled alone to Browning,
Montana on the Great Northern. He stayed
at the Haggerty Hotel and produced 35
portraits within the month, using
brilliant colors in pastel and tempera,
rather than traditional oil. The
Blackfeet bestowed on him the name
Beaver Child. Back in New York, he
exhibited his new works, and they caught
the eye of Dr. Philip Cole who purchased
the entire group.
Reiss' brother Hans traveled to Glacier
National Park and decided to stay and
became a licensed guide in the Park. By
chance, one of his clients was Louis
Hill. Their association led to a
contract for Winold Reiss. For ten
years beginning in 1927, Winold Reiss
returned to Browning every summer to
paint for the Great Northern Railway.
Many exhibitions followed, in America
and overseas. Reiss left an incredible
body of work behind him that captured
the true spirit of the Blackfeet. Reiss
was also commissioned by the Great
Northern Railroad to promote its route
into Glacier Park during its advertising
heyday from 1920s to the 1950s. The
Great Northern Railway reproduced Reiss’
work on calendars, postcards, menus,
playing cards and more. His work
illustrated the Railroad’s “See America
First” campaign that promoted travel to
the “Crown of the Continent.” Finished
portraits were sent from Browning to the
Great Northern Railway headquarters in
St. Paul. For three years he also ran a
summer art school with his friend Carl
Link, renting a cabin from Hugh and Mary
Black near St. Mary's Lake. |