Four Charlie Russell paintings not previously displayed in the Montana Historical Society’s premier Russell exhibit are in the museum’s newly refurbished gallery, which opens today.

Rich new wall colors — deep rose and teal blue, borrowed from Russell’s own palette — draw the visitor into the exhibit and enhance the paintings.

“The (new) colors add so much depth and detail to the portraits,” said Thomas Cook, public information officer, as he and curator Jennifer Bottomly-O’looney gave a brief tour on Friday.

The new wall colors also give the exhibit a fresh and contemporary feel.

“The gallery was dated,” Bottomly-O’looney said. “It was time for a change.”

The last time the exhibit was redone was 24 years ago.

The colors and lighting, by exhibit designer Roberta Jones-Wallace, better reveal Russell’s own mastery at capturing light in his powerful Western landscapes.

Another improvement: Visitors can now easily view Russell’s art chronologically as they circle the gallery, getting a better sense of how Russell developed as an artist.

New informational displays also reveal how he developed as both an artist and a man, with quotes and anecdotes bringing his personality to life.

A visitor learns that this extraordinarily talented and prolific artist was very humble at heart.

“To have talent is no credit to its owner; what man can’t help he should get neither credit nor blame for — it’s not his fault,” he said. “I am an illustrator. There are lots of better ones, but some worse. Any man that can make a living doing what he likes is lucky, and I’m that. Any time I cash in now, I win.”

Russell’s passion for Montana’s beauty and wild frontier way of life speak from beyond the grave.

By the time of his death in 1926, he produced more than 4,000 works of art, including more than 500 oil paintings, 1,500 water colors, several hundred illustrated letters, 1,300 pen-and-ink and pencil drawings and over 400 sculpture models.

Although his art is dispersed all over the world, the historical society’s pieces are considered one of the leading collections.

In the new exhibit, some of Russell’s letters, watercolors and sketches will be rotated through the exhibit.

These art pieces, executed on paper, are more fragile and subject to damage from exposure to light, said Bottomly-O’looney.

New track lighting, which is triggered by motion sensors, safeguards the works by illuminating them only when visitors are viewing the pieces.

“It’s a fine balance. You want to limit the light to preserve the art,” Jones-Wallace said, “but you want the visitor to see what you’re showing.”

The updated exhibit also contains more of Russell’s model sculptures, made from clay, wax and plaster, and a few bronzes.

Russell, from childhood on, loved to sculpt from wax and clay, Bottomly-O’looney said. He frequently carried a ball of wax in his pocket so he could spontaneously sculpt.

The four paintings added to the exhibit are — a primarily monochromatic oil painting, “Caught in the Act”; an oil painting, “In Indian Camp #2”; an oil painting on a vault door, “On Day Herd #2”; and a small oil study of “When the Land Belonged to God.”

Millions of visitors have viewed the museum’s Russell collection since it was first donated by the Mackay family in 1952, said Cook.

Although, museum staff regretted having to turn visitors away for the past three weeks, while they refurbished the Mackay Gallery, Bottomly-O’looney said, they’re eager to share the new results.

Exhibit tour

- Montana Historical Society tour guide Jim Greene will lead a gallery tour of the newly redone Mackay Gallery of Charles M. Russell Art on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 6:30 p.m. Greene, who has extensively studied Russell and MHS’s world-class collection of his work, will talk about Montana’s beloved artist as well as the new look of the exhibit.

- Montana Historical Society

Address: 225 N. Roberts

Hours: Monday-Saturday,9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Phone: 444-2694

Reporter Marga Lincoln: 447-4074 or marga.lincoln@helenair.com