The lot features a stunning, original Edgar Samuel Paxson (1852-1919) gouache and watercolor painting titled "Water Holes Yellowstone”, a beautiful Montana landscape signed lower right from an ex-museum Eastern Montana collection. The painting is signed lower right E.S. Paxson and on the back, “’Water Holes’ Yellowstone 30.00” as well as an original pit of old frame backing marked in fountain pen, “original watercolor Painted in 1913.” The image shows a towering butte with the rolling foreground of Montana, the Yellowstone river water holes in the foreground and a glorious Montana sunset sky. Edgar Samuel Paxson (April 25, 1852 – November 9, 1919) was a notable Montana artist of the American frontier, scout, soldier who was based in Montana. Paxson was on the frontier before Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell. He arrived in Montana in 1877 when Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians were warring their way through Cananda. He is best known for his portraits of Native Ameircans int he Old West and for his depiction of the Battle of the Little Bighorn in his painting, “Custer’s Last Stand”. Paxson became a close friend of Russell, who arrived in Montana in 1880, and the two men became the state's most famous early or pioneer resident artists. Among the things they shared was a mutual pride at being self-taught and a love of expressing aspects of Montana's frontier history. Some of his most sought-after work are his small watercolors. In 1881, he settled in Butte, where he found more lucrative business, and in 1905, he settled in Missoula. He deployed with Company G Butte 1st Montana Volunteer Infantry in 1895 in the Spanish American War with his sons. His work is highly desirable with many of his most notable pieces on permanent display at the Montana Capitol Building in Helena, Montana. Original works by E.S. Paxson are increasingly scarce with similar gouache and watercolor paintings being highly desired such as: The Last of the Herd a landscape with single buffalo watercolor in similar size which sold for $12,000 in The Russell sale March 2015; gouache landscape Marcus Daly Ranch which sold in March in Montana’s Mach 2020 sale for $36,000; and the watercolor of Chief Joseph which sold at Jackson Hole Art Auction’s September 2023 sale for $36,000. Provenance: Ex-museum out of Eastern Montana collection; ex-DuMouchelles gallery. The visible art measures 14-incehs by 10-inches.