paxsonâ€™s paintings in the missoula county courthouse

Paxson’s Paintings in the Missoula County Courthouse

In 1914 Colonel William F.

“Buffalo Bill” Cody, upon

visiting the recently opened

Missoula County Courthouse,

declared, “There is no

building of the kind in all the

country that can boast

anything so good."1 Cody, in

his inimitable hyperbolic fashion, was describing a recently unveiled cycle of

paintings by artist Edgar S. Paxson located in the south entrance to the new

building. These so-called “murals”2 on the early history of western Montana

are among Paxson’s greatest works and, in conjunction with architect A.J.

Gibson’s masterpiece of civic architecture, they form a unique expression of

Missoulians’ sense of history and optimism in the early 20th century. They are

also a stunning climax to the careers of these self-made western artists.

The Missoula County Courthouse, designed by A.J. Gibson, opened to the

public in the summer of 1910 to much fanfare, but also in a cloud of

controversy related to the nature of Gibson’s commission, construction delays,

1 Cited in Leonora Koelbel, Missoula the Way It Was (1972), revised edition by Stan Cohen, Missoula, MT: Pictorial Histories, 2004, 124. 2 They are oil paintings on linen canvas and as they are not directly painted on the walls do not strictly constitute murals. Paxson, whose studio was relatively small, bemoaned having to paint them one at a time.

Paxson’s Paintings in the Missoula County Courthouse © Hipolito Rafael Chacón. Commissioned by the Missoula Art Museum with support from the National Park Service for

Shared Histories: Understanding Paxson’s Murals and the Nostalgic Interpretation of the Old West.

and cost overruns. Controversy also extended to the interior decorations and it

was Edgar Paxson’s popular paintings, installed in June 1914, which did much

to redeem the entire project in the public mind.

According to press reports, public

outcry erupted in 1912 over the historically

inaccurate and inept interior decorations

executed by the William G. Andrews

Decorating Company of Clinton, Iowa. The

Andrews Company received $6,000, most

likely for ornamental trim, plasterwork, and

painting. Why the Andrews Company’s w

was found deficient or unacceptable is not entirely clear, but if the remna

murals located in the courtroom and floors above are any indication, the

original program included warmed-over art nouveau decorative patterns and

insipid female allegorical figures. Missoulians wanted real western subje

which addressed their pride of place and honored their history. Implied in

rejection of the Andrews firm and in the choice of Paxson to replace their w

was the idea that strangers, especially from the east, could not possibly

understand and give true expression to the dramatic events of Montana’s

glorious early history.

ork

nt

cts

the

ork

The Womens’ Club of Missoula, largely through the efforts of Mrs. A.E.

Pound, raised some $1000 to hire Paxson to replace the original decorations



with more appropriate paintings.3 The commission resulted in 8 superb

paintings.4 Paxson, who was actually born near

Buffalo, New York, had earned his western

credentials as a cattle rancher, freight wagon

driver, National Guardsman, Army soldier,

collector of Indian artifacts, and all around

frontiersman. He had moved his family from

Butte to Missoula in 1906 because of poor health

and by 1912 had become a local celebrity in the

growing town. Just in 1911 Paxson received the

commission to paint 6 murals in the Senate

Chambers of the Capitol in Helena. At the time, he was rivaled only by Charlie

Russell in stature as a western painter. Paxson’s paintings in Missoula, though

historically inaccurate themselves, were a resounding success, namely because

they presented a much more colorful and optimistic history in a clear and

glowing narrative style.

The most celebrated and widely reproduced images from Paxson’s cycle

of paintings in the Missoula County Courthouse are the two scenes related to

Lewis and Clark’s journey through this region. The first painting is titled The

Corp of Discovery at Traveler’s Rest Creek. Paxson finished the work in 1913.

It depicts a scene that took place on September 10, 1805 at the Indian 3 Some accounts state he was paid $1500. 4 The earliest titles on the paintings were: 1. Arrival of Father Ravalli at Fort Owen in September 1845, 2. Lewis and Clark’s Camp at Traveler’s rest, Lolo Creek, 1805, 3. A Montana Roundup, 4. The Flatheads in Buffalo Country, 5. Lewis’s Party Crossing the Clark’s Fork, July 1806, 6. The Flatheads Leaving the Bitterroot Valley, October 1892, 7. Governor Stevens’ Treaty at Council Grove, July 9, 1855, and 8. Early Transportation.



campsite on the south bank of Lolo Creek about 10 miles south of Missoula.

The explorers named this heavily-used campsite at the northern end of the

Bitterroot Valley “Travelers’ Rest” and the corp also stayed there on their

return trip from the Pacific in 1806.

At the center of Paxson’s classical composition stands Meriwether Lewis,

the leader of the Corps of Discovery, greeting three Salish men presented to

him by hunter George Drouillard (also known as Drewyer). The Indians were

looking for horses stolen by enemy Blackfeet and Lewis is presumably

negotiating to hire a

guide to lead them

across the Bitterroot

Mountains. He is

accompanied by his

servant and slave York

to his right and squatting on the ground is Old Toby, their Shoshone Indian

guide. Nearby Captain William Clark addresses their other guide Sacagawea,

shown seated holding her baby son Jean Baptiste with her husband Toussaint

Charbonneau. In the background are two secondary scenes: the men at their

encampment to one side and on the other a man said to be Sergeant John

Colter leading a stray horse back to camp.

Paxson intended the paintings to be historically correct, but there are

some inaccuracies,5 indicating that he did not know the journals very well or

5 Joseph Mussulman, exhibition text, Century of Change, Missoula, MT.: Missoula Art Museum, 2005.



that he intentionally conflated different scenes for dramatic effect. He

depicted Lewis’s dog, for example, as a small mixed-breed canine at his feet.

An early inscription attributed to Paxson calls him “Montana.” The dog was

actually a large Newfoundland named “Seaman.” Also, according to the

journals, two horses strayed during the night of September 10, which delayed

their departure the following day until after 3:00 P.M. On September 12,

Lewis’s own horse strayed as well. These events were important because

without Indian guides and horses, it was impossible for the corps to cross the

Bitterroots and, in fact, this portion turned out to be the most arduous part of

the entire journey. Paxson emphasized this heroic theme by including the lost

horse scene in the encounter with the Salish.

The second painting related to Lewis and Clark is titled Lewis’s

Detachment Crosses the Clark Fork River. Paxson finished this one in 1914.

This scene is part of the return journey when, according to the journals, the

captains split the corps

into two detachments on

July 3, 1806. Lewis set

out with nine of the

men, five Nez Perce

guides, and 17 horses for

the Great Falls of the Missouri by way of the Blackfoot River while Clark headed

to the Yellowstone River via the Big Hole River Valley. In the painting, the men



are shown crossing the Clark Fork River, some two and a half miles below the

confluence with the Bitterroot River across from the future site of Missoula.

Captain Lewis stands heroically on the right bank while three rafts cross

the river. His nine men are present although they have not been identified

specifically. The figure standing next to Lewis is, in all likelihood, Sergeant

Patrick Gass, while the man seated at the lower right might be Sergeant

Drouillard. Surrounding the men are the Indians who assisted the corps on the

crossing, some on horseback. Again, there are historical inaccuracies. There

are six Indians in the painting instead of the five recorded in the journals.

The journals record that the crossing took place in two-three hours and

that the third raft carrying Lewis actually sank. Paxson depicts three large,

well-constructed pegged rafts that would have taken a lot longer to build.

Moreover, he shows Lewis at a moment when he looks his best, wearing an

unusually smart red sash. Lastly, the scene is set under craggy mountain peaks

that look more like the Bitterroot Range farther south, rather than the lower,

gentler slopes surrounding the Missoula Valley. Again, Paxson seems to have

subtly enhanced everyday events on the journey for dramatic effect.

Edgar S. Paxson’s paintings in the Missoula County Courthouse succeeded

on two important counts. First, they elevated local subjects to the level of

grand art. The rustic and the homespun, as depicted in large stretches of

canvas in the elegant setting of the new courthouse, were elevated to the level

of the heroic. Secondly, the paintings presented Missoula as a major chapter in

the national saga of the Corp of Discovery. At a time when Missoula was a



burgeoning western town, its citizens needed to see their home as a place

where defining events of national importance had occurred. Paxson, with his

love of western subjects and Montana history, but also with his intuitive sense

of classical design and easy pictorial naturalism, was all too happy to oblige.

- Hipolito Rafael Chacón, PhD

Associate Professor, Art History/Art Criticism, The University of Montana

Illustrations: E.S. Paxson’s paintings, The Corps of Discovery at Travelers Rest Creek and Lewis’s

Detachment Crosses the Clark Fork River, painted in 1913 and 1914. Both oil on linen, 68 x 122”, Missoula

County Art Collection managed by the Missoula Art Museum. Photos: Carl Basner / © 2003 MAM.



paxsonâ€™s paintings in the missoula county courthouse

Documents