German naturalist and scientist Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, long dreamed of discovering new species of plants and animals in the New World. His companion was a young Swiss artist, Karl Bodmer, who died on October 30, 1893.

Born on February 6, 1809, in Riesbach, Switzerland, Bodmer studied art in France and established himself as an engraver, lithographer and painter. His earliest exposure to art probably came from his uncle, the landscape painter and engraver Johann Jakob Meyer.

When Bodmer was 22, he met his future patron, Maximilian, who was planning an ambitious scientific expedition to North America. Bodmer was hired by Maximilian to travel with the expedition and provide sketches of the American wilderness and record images of the different tribes they saw along the way.

After touring the East Coast, the party made its way westward on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to St. Louis, Missouri. The group left St. Louis in 1833 aboard the Yellowstone, and traveled up the Missouri River.

Maximilian and his companions visited a number of forts and villages, wintering at Fort Clark near the Mandan/Hidatsa villages. There, Bodmer had the opportunity to paint portraits and experience the communal life of the Indians.

Though Bodmer was trained in landscapes, he picked up portrait skills through daily practice while in the American West. He painted the life, customs, dress and ceremonies of the American Indians the expedition encountered, creating a large number of drawings and paintings of the Indians and the scenery of the Missouri while at Fort Clark.

The party headed back to St. Louis in the spring of 1834, arriving there on May 27 and returned to New York and Europe that same year.

Bodmer had his works from the expedition reproduced as aquatints. A total of 81 of Bodmer’s plates appeared in Maximilian’s Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-34, published in London in 1839. Some critics believe that Bodmer was the finest artist to work on the American frontier, and his album is an artistic treasure.

In 1962, the Northern Natural Gas Company of Omaha purchased the Maximilian-Bodmer collection of early American paintings and documents, including Maximilian’s American diaries and 427 original water colors and drawings by Bodmer.

The majority of Bodmer’s originals are now located at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. The 81 images he painted of the Indians and the Western territory provide us, today, with source materials for an understanding of that part of our heritage.

After returning to Paris, Bodmer associated himself with a group of Parisian artists that later became known as the Barbizon group. He lived the rest of days in Barbizon, France, became a French citizen and changed his name to Charles Bodmer.

Bodmer died on October 30, 1893.

By Cathy A. Langemo, WritePlus Inc.

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