Bronze Hound's Art Collection: Sapa-E Ke Mane - Piegan by Charles A. Beil (1894

This bronze, sourced online from an auction house in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, was created by an artist who was not as well known here in the US as he would have been had he conducted his career south of the 49th parallel north, specifically in Banff, Alberta, Canada. His skill and creativity however were first rate, having learned from one of the best in the field of Western sculpture at the time, his mentor and friend Charles Marion Russell.

Charles Beil was born in Germany but left at the age of 11, working itinerant jobs for several years before jumping ship in Argentina to work with gauchos (the local term for cowboys). He made his way north to the US, working a variety of labor intensive jobs before landing in Montana in about 1920. He met and befriended Charlie and Nancy Russell in 1921 while working as a guide in and around Glacier National Park. Russell encouraged his work in drawing and sculpting in clay. After Charlie Russell's death in 1926, Charlie Beil led his mentor and friend's horse in the funeral parade. Nancy Russell asked both Charlie Beil and her late husband's other protégé, Joe De Yong (or DeYong) to finish the sculptures that her husband had not finished as well as to "clean up" his previous models after they had been returned to her by Roman Bronze Works. In 1930 he moved to Banff and for a time his studio was above a bakery on Cave Street. It was not long after moving his studio to Bear Street that Beil began to explore casting in bronze. He married local girl Olive Luxton in 1940, welcoming three children with her.

Beil's primary income for over two decades derived from creating statues for the annual Calgary Stampede, a massive rodeo and exhibition that takes place every July. His sculptures were given as awards, both as trophies and belt buckles, each year a new set of sculptures being created. It wasn't until after he retired that he was encouraged to have copies of his earlier works cast in limited edition runs, as prior to that time they had all been cast as one-off originals. His sculptures are held in museums around the world, one even being in the entrance to Buckingham Palace, as well as in the homes of both the recipients of his trophies and collectors of fine Western art. He was greatly lauded in his own lifetime (mainly in Canada) and continues to be celebrated for his work.

Here we have a bronze bust of an elder Piegan warrior wearing a traditional Plains style feather headdress and bone choker. The upper part of a traditional beaded breastplate can also be seen under his long hair. He looks off into the distance with his mouth slightly open, as if tasting the air. The sculpting is exquisite, the casting fine, the patina original and aside from the tip of his nose being rubbed a bit shiny, is in very good condition. It looks like it could have been cast last year, even though it is many decades old. It is the first that he cast of this subject, not part of the numbered limited edition series that he cast shortly before his passing in 1976.

I consider myself to be VERY fortunate to now own original bronzes (all of Piegans, a happy coincidence) by Charles Marion Russell as well as BOTH of his protégés, Charles Beil and Joe De Yong. They look GREAT grouped together.

Enjoy!