By Brad Reynolds
TV personality. Philanthropist. Promoter of Montana history and culture. Norma Ashby has made numerous contributions to the state of Montana over the years, but among the most significant is her involvement in the C.M. Russell Art Auction, an event that has endured over fifty years and spawned an entire week celebrating Western art.
In the late 1960s, the Great Falls Ad Club was in need of fresh ideas for its annual fundraiser. Ashby suggested an auction. Ad Club members Joe Aberle and Bill Gue proposed that the club hold an art and media auction, selling donated items from businesses around the area as well as some Western art. It was a good idea and it gave Ashby another.
“I thought of the person who brought more fame to our city than anyone,” Ashby remembers. “I confidently proposed the idea of celebrating Charlie Russell. The board looked at me with blank faces. They asked, ‘Who would want to celebrate a dead artist?’” Thankfully, Ashby is a believer that with perseverance, you can do anything you set your mind to. She met with Ad Club President Bill Samson and Vice President Tom Johnson to discuss how they could make the idea resonate with the board. After some brainstorming, they came up with the idea that the auction would not only honor Charlie Russell but also showcase up-and-coming artists, with proceeds benefitting both the Ad Club and the Russell Gallery (now the C.M. Russell Museum). The trio presented their idea to the Ad Club board. According to Ashby, they said, “Okay, we’ll try this once…
The Ad Club had less than three months to plan the first C.M. Russell Auction. Around thirty committees were formed to handle all the different aspects of the event. Although everyone was important, some key figures stepped up to make the auction a success. One such figure was Fred Renner, the foremost authority on Charlie Russell. Having met him once before, Ashby contacted Renner and asked him if he’d be willing to assist the Ad Club in their C.M. Russell Auction. Not only did Renner give them a list of buyers interested in Russell, he brought to town an exhibit of twenty-one original Russell paintings to promote the event. The Ad Club chose to display the auction art at the Great Falls National Bank and later had it transferred to the Rainbow Hotel for the event. To protect the art, the club hired the Cascade County Sherriff’s Posse to act as guards. The posse wandered the lobby with guns at their hips (which must have contributed to the ambiance as well as the security). The posse earlier had carried a message from the mayor of Great Falls all the way to Helena on horseback: a proclamation declaring March 1969 as Charles M. Russell Month.
All-in-all, roughly 400 Western art enthusiasts from seven states showed up for the first Russell Auction on March 6, 1969.
Norma Ashby emceed the event while Fort Shaw auctioneer Jack Raty sold off seventy-seven works of art to the highest bidders. The auction ran until just before midnight and raised $20,160 (gross), with $10,872 going straight to the Russell Gallery.
“The day after we were already planning for the next auction,” says Ashby.
The C.M. Russell Auction remained at the Rainbow Hotel until 1974, when it outgrew the venue and moved to the newly opened Heritage Inn, where it remained for several decades. Along with the additional space, the Ad Club needed an extension in time. In 1975, the one-day event evolved into a three-day “happening” that included exhibit rooms, two major auctions, and numerous special events.
The event not only attracted big buyers but big names too. Celebrities like Charley Pride, Hoyt Axton, and Denver Pyle drew crowds, while other celebrities attended incognito. One of the biggest surprises of the auction came in 1985, when representatives of National Geographic arrived to cover the event. In the January 1986 issue of National Geographic (Volume 169, Number 1), Bart McDowell writes, “The C.M. Russell Auction of Original Western Art in Great Falls, Montana, once a year and for a brief weekend turns Charlie’s hometown into one of the world’s most lucrative art markets.”
In 1988 a freelance writer with the Wall Street Journal, Ruth Rudner, again validated the Russell Auction on a national platform. She writes, “[The C.M. Russell Auction] seems to have more in common with Woodstock than with Sothebys. The connection to that gentle cowboy artist felt by so many coming to Great Falls each year makes Russell fully present. He only died. He never left.”
Even after the Russell Auction’s move to the Heritage Inn in 1974, it was apparent that the ever-growing event didn’t have room for every artist. As a result, new art shows sprang up to accommodate the overflow. Instead of fighting the competition, the Russell Auction chose to embrace it, marketing all of the shows as one event: Western Art Week.
“It’s been thrilling to watch,” says Ashby. “There’s art for everyone at every level. It’s been really good for Great Falls.” Today, Western Art Week incorporates more than a dozen art shows (and several gallery exhibitions), spread throughout the city. Artists and collectors from all over the world travel to participate in the many events, including the one that started it all—the C.M. Russell Auction.