The Snake Priest by Charles M. Russell
The Snake Priest
Charles M. Russell
Title
The Snake Priest
Artist
Year
1914 /1916
Technique
cast bronze attached to marble base
Image Size
4"h x 8-1/2" l x 4-3/4" w, with base
Signature
signed in the cast, beside hand
Edition Size
from the first edition of around 12
Annotations
copyrighted and dated beneath signature
Reference
Paper
State
Publisher
cast by B. Zoppo Foundry, New York (stamp on edge of sculpture)
Inventory ID
KEFL301
Price
SOLD
Description
It is assumed that C.M. Russell had not yet been to the southwest when he created the preliminary study for this sculpture, which depicts a Hopi tribesman of Arizona. Specifically, it is thought to be a depiction of Lomanakshu, a holy man who performed the Snake Ceremony--known variously as the Water or Rain Ceremony. Russell may have been inspired by a 1903 Field Columbian Museum anthropological publication discussing the ceremony and Lomanakshu.
Native American life was a recurring inspiration for Russell's art. As a young man, he worked as a hunter, trapper, and ranch hand throughout the upper midwest and southern Alberta, Canada, and he spent some time living among the Kainai faction of the Blackfeet Nation, beginning in 1889.