The Sid Richardson Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, will open a new exhibition titled "Russell’s Retreat: Summers at Glacier National Park" on May 2, 2026. The show focuses on Charles M. Russell’s life and work at his summer home, Bull Head Lodge, and features objects borrowed from museums and private collections, many displayed in Fort Worth for the first time. Highlights include the landscape painting "Storm Over Lake McDonald" (1906), birchbark paintings, and a replica of gnome figures Russell made from moss and twigs.
The exhibition matters because it shifts the narrative of Charles M. Russell from a painter of Western action to an artist deeply shaped by the serene, mountainous landscape of what is now Glacier National Park. By bringing together rare and intimate works—many created as gifts for friends—the show reveals a personal, reflective side of Russell and underscores the importance of place in artistic development. It also offers free public access to works that illuminate a lesser-known chapter of American Western art.