American, Native Indians
Charles (Karl) Bodmer
Charles Bodmer (1809-1893) was a Swiss-French artist, lithographer and engraver. Because of the quality of his art and his ability to work quickly and accurately, he was selected, at age 23, as the illustrator-diarist for a two-year expedition (1832-1834) to North America by the ethnologist and explorer, Prince Maximilian of Wied, a tiny region of southwest Germany.
In 1833-1834, the expedition spent more than a year on the Upper Missouri River where this illiustration was done. Like George Catlin three years earlier, Bodmer did hundreds of depictions of the indigenous peoples, wildlife, and landscapes of the territory. According to Wikipedia, Bodmer’s watercolours of individuals, artefacts and customs of the Indians are acknowledged as among the most accurate and informative ever made. Eighty-one were adapted as hand-coloured aquatints to illustrate Prince Maximilian’s two-volume journal. It was published in German (1839-1841) and English (1843-1844). A version with uncoloured plates was published by subscription in Paris in 1838.

American, Native Indians
Charles (Karl) Bodmer
Charles Bodmer (1809-1893) was a Swiss-French artist, lithographer and engraver. Because of the quality of his art and his ability to work quickly and accurately, he was selected, at age 23, as the illustrator-diarist for a two-year expedition (1832-1834) to North America by the ethnologist and explorer, Prince Maximilian of Wied, a tiny region of southwest Germany.
In 1833-1834, the expedition spent more than a year on the Upper Missouri River where this illiustration was done. Like George Catlin three years earlier, Bodmer did hundreds of depictions of the indigenous peoples, wildlife, and landscapes of the territory. According to Wikipedia, Bodmer’s watercolours of individuals, artefacts and customs of the Indians are acknowledged as among the most accurate and informative ever made. Eighty-one were adapted as hand-coloured aquatints to illustrate Prince Maximilian’s two-volume journal. It was published in German (1839-1841) and English (1843-1844). A version with uncoloured plates was published by subscription in Paris in 1838.
