Karl Bodmer

In May of 1832, Swiss artist Karl Bodmer (1809-93) set out with Maximilian, Prince of Wied, a German aristocrat and scientist, on a twenty-eight-month journey along the Ohio and Missouri Rivers. For Bodmer, the expedition resulted in more than four hundred watercolors and sketches of Native American people, landscapes, animals, and plants. Engravings of many of the images were subsequently used to illustrate Travels in the Interiors of North America, Prince Maximilian's well-known historical account. Karl Bodmer is a homage to the great painter who captured for the rest of the world so many important natural details of early America.

Presented here are all eighty-one engravings used to illustrate Maximilian's book, as well as the original watercolors, sketches, and photographs of artifacts collected during the legendary passage. Bodmer's detailed work is among the most important documents of Native American culture from that region. Almost all of these images are held today in public collections in the United States, including large collections at the Newberry Library in Chicago, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha.

Karl Bodmer is a richly illustrated volume that brings to life a monumental event in both art history and the history of early America. First published in 2009 to coincide with an exhibition at the Nordamerika Native Museum in Zürich, it has been out of print for some time and is now becoming available again in a new edition.