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A Western Icon
The Art and Stories of Will James & Bronzes by his friend Charles M. RussellExhibitions
Selections from the Will James collection on view year-round in the Murdock Gallery. Yellowstone Art MuseumOne of the most beloved of American cowboy artists, Will James helped create and define the mythic image of the American cowboy in literature and Hollywood films. Comprised of paintings, drawings, manuscripts, and Will James's personal effects. Works on display focus on both the art and literature James produced in his brief but extraordinarily productive lifetime. Though born in Canada, James claimed eastern Montana as his home and spent many years in Billings as a guest of local art dealer, Earl Snook. Today, more than half a century after James' death, his books are still published, his paintings and drawings appreciated, and his life celebrated internationally through the Will James Society. The collection of his writings, drawings, paintings, and personal effects that is housed at the Yellowstone Art Museum (the largest public collection in existence) is an important legacy to Montana and the American West. The Museum is dedicated to ensuring that this legacy remains strong through permanent exhibition of his art, and by becoming a center for the study of Will James.

The Museum's Will James exhibition is generously sponsored by the Will James Society.

Yellowstone Art Museum
To view our collection of Will James' work online, go to The Montana Memory Project website (http://cdm103401.cdmhost.com/), click 'browse,' and choose Will James from the drop-down menu. The entire collection of scanned images will open. Each image can be viewed in detail by clicking on it.

Sample search: type horses in the keyword field. You will get a result of 139 records. Click on a title link, and you will get a more detailed record. At the bottom of the detailed record, click on the URL link to see the image.

This database has 184 records with images of works by Will James and the Museum is pleased to make them more widely available to the public, although viewing these images on your computer screen can never replace the experience of coming to the Museum and seeing them on exhibit. This database was created in fall 2001, and more images will be added as available.

Funding for this project was provided by a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Montana State Library.

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Lone Cowboy
Attributed to Charles Duncan
Untitled, Portrait of Will James, ca. 1920-1930
oil on canvas, 1994.012-vs
Yellowstone Art Museum Permanent Collection
Gift of Virginia Snook

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