Karl Bodmer (1809-1893), painter and illustrator

[Californian]

Swiss-born Karl Bodmer (1809 - 1893) produced one of the most important and beautiful 19th century records of the American West. Bodmer was born on February 6, 1809 in Zurich. At age 13, he began studying under his uncle, artist Johann Jakob Meier, Known for uncanny accuracy and detail, he uniquely captured the Native American culture through his portraits and depictions of genre scenes and ceremonies. An equally talented landscape artist, he also recorded North America's vast western territories in their untouched, pristine beauty. Bodmer was just 23 years old when he signed on to accompany German explorer, ethnologist and naturalist Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied on his Missouri River Expedition. His first hand watercolor sketches were completed during the expedition up the Missouri River between 1832 and 1834. The findings resulted in the publication of the Prince's journals titled Travels in the Interior of North America, during the years 1832 - 1834, which incorporated a picture atlas of 81 stunning naturalistic aquatint plates based on Bodmer's illustrations. The aquatints, some with lovely original hand color remain an important American travelogue and snapshot of upper Plains Indian culture before it had been ravaged by small pox. At the conclusion of the expedition, Bodmer returned to Germany with Prince Maximilian and oversaw the production of the engravings that illustrated the travel atlas. Most of Bodmer's original watercolors are held by the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.

[jones]

A link to Bodmer's self portrait
www.american-tribes.com/messageboards/dietmar/bodmer1.jpeg

[Californian]

a truly funny comment by the Prince Maximilian zu Wied/Neuwied about Toussaint Charbonneau ..."this 75-year-old man is always running after women."  Some guys just never learn.

[jones]

You can find that quote at the top of this linked page.
books.google.com/books?id=L3tWAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA251&lpg=PA251#v=onepage&q&f=true

[Californian]

Faces from the Interior. The North American portraits of Karl Bodmer - 2021 Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha NE, hardcover, 224 pages, 4°

In the early nineteenth century, Prince Maximilian of Wied traveled the Missouri River to uncover what he called “the natural face of North America”—its landscapes, flora and fauna, and Native inhabitants. Among his small party was Swiss artist Karl Bodmer (1809–1893), who would prove to be one of the most accomplished and prolific artists to visit the American frontier. Bodmer and Maximilian traveled more than 2,500 miles together, spending time among Mandan, Hidatsa, Omaha, Otoe, Pawnee, Yankton, Assiniboine, Plains Cree, Siksika, Piegan, Kainai, and Gros Ventre communities. Bodmer’s watercolors of the people he met remain among the most compelling visual accounts of the American West, an invaluable record of the Missouri River’s Indigenous communities. The first publication to focus on Bodmer as a portraitist, Faces from the Interior includes essays examining his artistic practice, the international dissemination of his images, and the ongoing significance of his work to Indigenous communities. From the collection of the Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha, Nebraska), Faces from the Interior features over 60 recently conserved watercolors including portraits of individuals from the Omaha, Ponca, Yankton, Lakota, Mandan, Hidatsa, Assiniboine, and Blackfoot nations.

[natethegreat]

Excellent!