Bodmer biography

BODMER, KARL ()

Karl Bodmer, painter of perhaps the finest of all Plains Indian portraits, was born on February 11, , in Zurich, Switzerland, where he received artistic training from his uncle, landscape painter and engraver Johann Jakob Meyer.

In naturalist and explorer Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied contracted Bodmer's services for an expedition to North America.

Their journey lasted from July to July , but the most important phase began in April , when they set out on a voyage up the Missouri River by steamship and, later, keelboat. During stops at trading posts and encampments, Bodmer composed watercolor portraits of Omaha, Dakota, Assiniboine, Atsina, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Blackfeet chiefs and warriors but occasionally women and children as well.

He also painted village scenes, ceremonies, and a wide variety of landscapes. In August Maximilian and Bodmer reached Fort McKenzie, near presentday Great Falls, Montana, but, faced with menacing warfare among the Blackfeet, they t