Halcyon Days, 1916, oil on canvas

It is not remembered when or why Clell developed an interest in art, but by the age of 8 he was drawing, and by 16 he was putting the world around him to canvas. Two years later at 18, wide eyed and full of hope, he enrolled in the Chicago Institute of Arts. It was an experience that would shape his artistic life. He studied artists such as John Vanderpoel, Nils Forsberg, George Bellows, and Joseph Pennell. Lecturers at the time included:

-Illustrator, mapmaker, writer, and fellow lover of nature Henry Turner Bailey.

-World renowned sculptor, writer, and lover of American history Lorado Taft.

-International muralist and lifelong arts educator James Edwin McBurney

And many more at one of the leading art schools in the world. His roommate, Holling C. Holling, was an author who went on to win Caldecott Honors and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award for his book, Paddle-to-the-Sea, later adapted into an Oscar nominated short film. Barely 20 years old, Clell Gannon was in the deep end of the burgeoning art world of pre-Depression America. 

Sharp-Tailed Grouse, near Underwood, ND, October 10, 1921, watercolor on board

The world was ahead of the young artist. Sometime in 1920 or early 1921, he contracted diphtheria and never really got better. He struggled to balance the workload of school, his creative time, and his health, and made the decision to dropout and return to North Dakota. He ended up in Bismarck and took time to reconnect with the state he loved so dearly.  He began to write poetry, publishing his first book Songs of the Bunch Grass Acres in 1924. In 1925, Clell and two friends, Russell Reid and George Will, set off from Medora, North Dakota and onto the Little Missouri River in a rowboat, and spent the next 13 days rowing 350 miles downriver to Bismarck.

"There was no particular motive for the trip. It was a vacation and done for the mere joy of it, although back of it all was a passionate love for the Bad Lands and the Missouri River, and an intense interest in ornithology, geology, archeology, and the historic associations with which the region is especially rich."

-Clell Gannon

George Will, Clell Gannon, and Russell Reid on the trip down the Missouri, taken June 19, 1925. Image courtesy of the State Historical Society

North Dakota Badlands, undated, watercolor on board

By the late 1920's Clell had settled down in Bismarck. He took a job as secretary with the Soo Line Railway, married Ruth Johnson, had two sons; Craig and Grael, and lived a relatively quiet life in the capital city. Though he never set out to make it as a full-time artist, he never stopped creating. He continued to write poetry and paint. As the Depression set in, he was one of many of the nations artists tapped on to bring a bit of beauty to the struggling public. Through connections with his friends Russell Reid and George Will, both of whom spent time as director of the State Historical Society, Clell was paid to create murals throughout Bismarck. His works can still be viewed today at the Burleigh County Courthouse, the Bismarck Public Library, Bismarck High School's Library, and the State Heritage Center.

"The city has its features but I like the prairie best
They’re wanting me to listen to them now."

Songs of the Bunch Grass Acres, Clell Gannon

Clell saw the art in everything. Architecture was not his strong suit, but there was no challenge he ever backed down from. In the early 1930's and with the help of his friends George Will, Russell Reid, and a young Harold Schafer, Clell acquired a plot of land north of downtown Bismarck. High upon a hill with a clear view of the Missouri River and with nothing but the prairie for a neighbor, Clell began building a small home made entirely out of what materials his beloved North Dakota provided. After a couple years and a few trips to the Badlands and Clell's dad's Underwood farm to scrounge for petrified wood and field stones, the group had constructed a modest English cottage style home made entirely out of their gathered materials. The heavy wooden front door as well as the irons in the massive fire place were salvaged from the ruins of the Capitol Building fire. The family moved in to what would become known as "The Cairn" on North Mandan Street in 1935. It would be their home for the rest of Clell's life.

Untitled oil on canvas, 1951

Clell continued to paint and write poetry throughout the Depression. He wrote for the Federal Writers Project, contributing to the WPA's guide to North Dakota. By 1938 Clell began working as a commercial artist for the Provident Life Insurance company. He had finally reached a point where art could be his life, but in tragic parallel to his hopeful young years in Chicago, it was not to last. He again fell extremely ill, this time with tuberculosis, and would spend the next 8 years without work. Clell was committed as a patient to the San Haven sanatorium in northern North Dakota. He would stay here for 4 years, unable to work, and seemingly unable to paint. There is a notable gap in his work, and it wasn't until the early 1950's that he begins painting in force again. He kept as occupied as he could at San Haven, writing for the hospitals newsletter. In personal correspondence, he laments that the other patients only wanted to play cards.

"You may have been born in Havana,

In Singapore, Sitka, or Rome,

But if once you have lived in Dakota,

If once you have known it as home,

It has gripped you a slave to its worship,

A slave? - yes, a lover, a friend,

For the long, long trail leads to Dakota

And every known trail has an end."

The Law of Dakota, Clell Gannon

He returned home in the late 40's. In the early 50's he begins finishing paintings once again, and makes his most significant artistic mark in the world. His old friend George Will was the son of Oscar Will. Oscar Will was a founder of the Oscar Will Seed Company. Founded in the late 19th century in Bismarck, the Oscar Will Seed Company was a supplier of seeds. Oscar Will had a love for North Dakota, and saw the importance of cultivating and encouraging the planting of native species. His business prowess led the small local greenhouse to national success, and by the 1910's, over 100,000 catalogues were circulating annually around the country. His son George was raised with a similar love of the land and its history. While an undergraduate botany student at Harvard, George Will led one of the first ever survey's of the Double Ditch mounds, a historic site where the Mandan had lived for centuries prior. It was there he discovered seeds and evidence of agriculture. His work as an amateur anthropologist forged deep relationships with the local tribes. They came to the Will Company with seeds and knowledge passed down from centuries past. This relationship with the tribes led to many indigenous seeds being brought back from the brink of extinction and made available to all. George took over the company in 1917, and remained in control for 38 years. In the early 1950's, shortly before his death in 1955, he asked his friend Clell Gannon to design the covers of the catalogue, to which Clell readily said yes. It was these covers, adorned with Clell's uniquely North Dakotan touch, that put his art in front of countless people around the nation, and to this day are remembered by those who grew up on a farm.

Original catalogue cover paintings, courtesy of Bismarck State College

In 1953 Ruth was awarded a Ford Fellowship for travel and study, and the family lived in Mexico City for a year. Bismarck State College, then Bismarck Junior College, named their art gallery the Gannon Gallery in the mid 50's, with George Will and Harold Schafer speaking at the ceremony. Now, with the two boys grown up and out of the house, Ruth and Clell had settled into a quiet life back at the Cairn. Ruth worked as an English and Spanish teacher at Bismarck High School, while Clell spent most of his time at home, working on his paintings and poetry. They were well known in Bismarck as gracious hosts. Mandan Street was the gathering place, with the Will family just a few houses down the street. Ruth kept a guest book at the Cairn and collected generations of countless signatures. When they hosted their house warming party in 1935, the book received more than 400 signatures, a testament to how well loved the couple was.

"Ever and always I shall love the land,

As long as breath shall last and pulse shall beat;

And we will walk together, hand in hand,

To find life satisfying and complete."

Ever and Always, Clell Gannon

Though only in his 50's, Clell's frequent and sometimes severe bouts with illness had left him worn down. His poems of this time period reflect the thoughts of someone who believes they may not have much time left. He explores themes of nostalgia, reminiscing about the Badlands excursions of his youth. He writes lovingly romantic poems, with Ruth undoubtedly on his mind. He also writes about death, and though he remains ever positive and strong in his faith, hindsight reveals a person coming to terms with a future they fear is very near.

"Sometimes we face a thing so grand

That spoken words are never said;

And death is one of these, and so

I shall not speak when I am dead."

Death, Clell Gannon

Winter Scene, oil on canvas, 1962

In the fall of 1962, Clell felt unwell enough to check into the hospital. Six days later, on September 28, he died. Clell was 62 years old. The Bismarck Tribune wrote in his obituary that Clell was, "one of the most beloved figures in the state." 

His poetry books, Songs of the Bunch Grass Acres  and Ever and Always I Shall Love the Land are out of print. His paintings remain in public and private collections. The State Historical Society maintains his archive at the Heritage Center in Bismarck. Bismarck State College maintains a collection of his original paintings, both landscapes as well as catalogue covers, which are available for public viewing in the Gannon Gallery. Private collectors hold his works dearly, many of them friends and family of Clell. Some of his works have now been passed down through multiple generations. In summer of 2025, the Capital Gallery was proud to host "Homecoming", an exhibition honoring the Gannon and Twingley families, both beloved art families of North Dakota. Several of Clell's works were displayed alongside works from his late son Craig, and grandson Ned Gannon, currently an art professor at University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Some of Clell's works were on display for the first time since he passed.

Clell Gannon is a lifetime honorary member of the North Dakota State Historical Society and the American Society of Arts and Sciences.

The Cairn was added to the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Cathedral District in 1997. It was restored in the 2010's and remains privately owned and well cared for today.

"So beautiful

In fact these landscapes were, that, as friends passed

Some could not choose which one they liked the best.

One day a stranger thrilled beyond compare

Asked of the artist which one was the best.

The artist turned away from work well done,

Gazed on the easel where a canvas hung

Untouched, blank-white, and, as he studied it,

Replied, "My best one is the next."

His Best, Clell Gannon

Sources Referenced

All images belong to the Capital Gallery unless otherwise noted. Cover image of Clell courtesy of the State Historical Society.

Art Institute of Chicago. (1921, January). Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (Vol. 15, No. 1). The Art Institute of Chicago.
  https://www.jstor.org/stable/i385455

Art Institute of Chicago. (n.d.). Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute of Chicago.
  https://www.jstor.org/stable/i382439

Cambridge University Press. (n.d.). George Francis Will (1884–1955) [PDF].
  https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/12350A6CCD320D8AB7384562F11A9B4D/S0002731600010325a.pdf/george_francis_will18841955.pdf

Gannon, C. (1965). Ever and always I shall love the land. New York, NY: Vantage Press.

HathiTrust Digital Library. (n.d.). [Digitized work].
  https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3501462&seq=44

National Park Service. (n.d.). National Register of Historic Places: The Cairn [Text file].
https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/97001142_text

North Dakota State Historical Society. (n.d.). Inventory of the Clell Gannon papers (00247).
  https://www.history.nd.gov/archives/manuscripts/inventory/00247.html

Prairie Public. (2018, September 28). Artist Clell Gannon.
  https://news.prairiepublic.org/main-street/2018-09-28/artist-clell-gannon

Prairie Public. (2024, July 20). The captive coyote [Podcast episode]. Plains Folk.
  https://news.prairiepublic.org/podcast/plains-folk/2024-07-20/the-captive-coyote

St. Martin’s Press. (1978). Twentieth-century children’s writers (Vol. 78). New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press.

Unheralded.fish. (2023, March 2). Lillian Crook (WildDakotaWoman): Ever and always I shall love the land—Inspirational North Dakotans: Ruth and Clell Goebel Gannon and their home, The Cairn.
  https://www.unheralded.fish/2023/03/02/lillian-crook-wilddakotawoman-ever-and-always-i-shall-love-the-land-inspirational-north-dakotans-ruth-and-clell-goebel-gannon-and-their-home-the-cairn/

"Clell

This spring, after my heart's winter,

The grape hyacinths came through,

As always with the bluest blue

That ever Nature could devise;

Your eyes were of lighter hue,

And yet, somehow, the hyacinth

Is the same as your eyes

Would have been were there

A shadow there, as now is

Deep within my heart since

You have gone to dwell

Within the Soul of Spring."

Clell, by Ruth Gannon

Written at the Cairn, May 17, 1963