biographie de Karl BODMER (1809-1893)

Birth place: Riesbach, Switzerland

Death place: Barbizon, France

Profession: Painter, lithographer, engraver

Studied: With his uncle, Johann Jakob Meyer, in Zürich; Cornu in Paris

Exhibited: Paris Salon, beginning 1836; Awarded Legion of Honor, 1876.

Work: There is a large collection of watercolors at the Joslyn Art Mus., Omaha, NE; Thomas Gilcrease Inst., Tulsa, Ok.

Comments: Known for his paintings of American Indians. In 1832-34, Bodmer accompanied Maximilian, Prince of Wied-Neuwied, on a tour of the U.S., which took them to Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana (they spent the winter in New Harmony), Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Montana. Bodmer also made a side trip to New Orleans (Dec. 1833- Jan. 1834), where he painted full-length portraits of Choctaw Indians. The 81 plates in Maximilian's Travels are based on watercolor sketches made by Bodmer of all these travels, including landscapes, views of towns, portraits, studies of equipment, and numerous Indian studies. He returned to Europe in 1834, going first to Paris, then to the Barbizon region of France, where he formed an artistic relationship with Jean François Millet. Bodmer never returned to America but went on to illustrate books and magazines and was known for forest landscapes and renditions of birds and animals.

Sources: G&W; Thieme-Becker; Wied-Neuwied, Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-34; De Voto, Across the Wide Missouri; Draper, American Indians--Barbizion Style--The Collaborative Paintings of Millet and Bodmer;" Draper "Karl Bodmer-An Artist among the Indians;" Weitkampf, "A Swiss Artist Among the Indians;" Ladies Garland, III (1849), repros. opp. 37, 166; Davidson, I, 168, 194, 196, 208-09 and II, 241, repros.; Smithsonian Institution, "Carl Bodmer Paints the Indian Frontier." More recently, see Baigell, Dictionary; P&H Samuels, 52-53; Encyclopaedia of New Orleans Artists. "