Lot 611
Karl Bodmer Engraving "Encampment of the Travellers on the Missouri"
Karl Bodmer Engraving "Encampment of the Travellers on the Missouri"
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Karl Bodmer (Swiss-born, 1809-1893)., ca. 1832 - 1834 CE. Encampment of the Travellers on the Missouri(Tableau 23 from "Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-1834"); Paris, Coblenz, and London: 1839-1843. A hand-colored aquatint of rare documentary and artistic distinction, drawn from life by the Swiss painter Karl Bodmer during his celebrated journey up the Missouri River with Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied between 1832 and 1834, and published as Tableau XXIII in the landmark atlas accompanying "Travels in the Interior of North America," issued in installments by Ackermann and Co., London, between 1839 and 1843. The composition depicts a party of river travelers encamped on the wooded bank of the Missouri at dusk, their flat-bottomed keelboat moored at the water's edge while figures cluster around a small fire beneath an immense canopy of ancient cottonwoods, their gnarled roots gripping the embankment with theatrical authority. Size: 12.75" W x 10.75" H (32.4 cm W x 27.3 cm H)
A lone figure at the water's edge hauls cargo, the river stretching silver and still into a pale horizon beyond. Bodmer's eye for atmospheric light and botanical specificity, honed during thousands of miles of riverine travel through territory few Europeans had witnessed firsthand, gives the scene a quality that hovers between ethnographic record and Romantic landscape painting, which is precisely what makes the "Travels" atlas one of the most significant visual documents of the pre-settlement American West. First edition examples, printed by Imprimerie de Bougard in Paris with full hand-coloring, are increasingly scarce outside institutional collections.
Karl Bodmer's works demonstrate his immense technical virtuosity and during their day provided a detailed image of a previously virtually unknown and unfortunately not long for this world way of life. Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (1782-1867) invited Bodmer to create a visual record of his travels in North America, primarily to learn more about the Plains Indians in this era prior to the invention of the camera. The pair along with David Dreidoppel, the Prince's hunting companion and servant, traveled from 1832 to 1834. They landed in Boston in July 1832, then traveled to Philadelphia, where Napoleon Bonaparte's elder brother Joseph hosted them. Next, they headed west via Pennsylvania across the Alleghenies to Pittsburgh and the Ohio country, all the while visiting important German settlements - the utopian colony of New Harmony in Indiana being a particularly important stop. It was there that the Prince spent five months in the company of some of the countries leading experts, and studied informative literature about the American frontier. On March 1833, the party reached St. Louis, Missouri, and set off on their journey to meet and learn about Native Americans.
The trio left St. Louis aboard the steamer known as Yellow Stone on April 10, 1833. Proceeding up the perilous Missouri River following the line of forts established by the American Fur Company, they first met Native Americans at Bellevue; next, they met the Sioux peoples, all the while learning everything they could and recording the little known ceremonial dances and customs. Next, they transferred from the Yellow Stone to the Assinboine steamer, and continued to Fort Clark, visiting the Mandan, Crow, and Mintari tribes, and then the Assinboins at Fort Union, which was the primary base of the American Fur Company. They next boarded a smaller vessel to travel through the geological region of that section of the Missouri to Fort Mackenzie in Montana, where they cautiously established a friendship with the legendarily fierce Blackfeet. This was their westernmost point, as it was considered much too dangerous to continue on. Hence, they returned downstream, and the winter months presented their own set of challenges. However, Bodmer continued to create magnificent studies of the peoples, dances, and villages.
Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection; Private collection of a Private Colorado Family
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Item #
202065
- Condition: Some rippling to page, as well as fold and perforations at area of previous binding. Normal toning to paper. Clear imagery and text with nice preservation of pigments.
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