About the Painting:This painting by Joe De Yong is a small oil 7inches by 11 inches of Going-To-The-Sun Mountain and the upper end of St. Mary Lake. Going-To-The-Sun Mountain is along with Chief Mountain, one of the principal mountains of the east side of Glacier National Park. St. Mary Lake is on the east side of Glacier as well and is the second largest lake in the Park.
Joe De Yong was born in Webster Groves, Missouri in 1894. Yong, who could not hear, and according to one biographer had trouble speaking, was always a cowboy and in 1911 he met Tom Mix and became a technical advisor on his movies. While recovering from spinal meningitis De Yong wrote to Charles Russell, asking about a career as an artist.
By 1916 De Yong was living in the Russell house in Great Falls and spending summers at the Russell summer home at Lake McDonald.
The fact is that CMR taught Joe De Yong how to paint and turned him into if not a great artist, certainly one that even yet commands good money when his work comes on the market.
In return De Yong became the person who lived in the Russell home when the Russell's were on tour and took care of the stock, kept the house and studio running and in many cases took care of the Russell's adopted boy Jack.
It should be noted that Joe De Yong spent more time with CMR and Nancy at Lake McDonald than any other artist.
CMR introduced Joe De Yong to many important people who helped get De Yong's career off the ground.
When Charlie Russell died in 1926 it was Joe De Yong who came out to Great Falls and helped Nancy get Russell's affairs in order. Matter of fact it was Joe De Yong who permanently set the studio clock to show the time of Russell's death.
Joe De Yong worked as a technical expert on many western films for the rest of his life. And much as he liked that and his painting, he once penned the words, "Will the colors of that far country be as bright? Will the range still be unfenced and none of the old trails plowed under?
Will the same old friends gather-together at night to share the warmth of the campfire's light? Sometimes I can't help but wonder."
In the early 1960's my uncle Al Lucke entered into a correspondence with Joe De Yong that lasted until De Yong's death in 1975. Al showed the Lucke family his correspondence and soon some of us were writing back and forth to De Yong as well. Little did I know at the time what a close protégée I was writing to of Charlie Russell and Ace Powell never mentioned De Yong at all.
Our correspondence was about how the west was and how lonely Joe De Yong was not to be living out here with the rest of us Montana people.
Once in a while you can see a bronze of Joe De Yong's or an oil painting on E Bay. Find them in a category called Artists of Glacier National Park. Should you ever find one, they go for around $25,000.00 to $35,000.00 yet today.
I think that even though the west and Montana have changed drastically in the years, I think that when Joe De Yong saw Lake McDonald or St Mary Lake, he would fall in love with his beloved Montana all over.
