Karl Bodmer
1809-1893
Karl Bodmer was Swiss painter and printmaker of the American West subjects. He accompanied German explorer Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied from 1832 through 1834 on his Missouri River expedition. He was hired as an artist by Maximilian with the specific intent of traveling through the American West and recording images of the different tribes they saw along the way.
Johann Carl Bodmer was born in 1809 in Zürich, Switzerland. When he was thirteen years old, his mother’s brother, Johann Jakob Meier, became Bodmer’s teacher. Meier was an artist, having studied under the well-known artists Heinrich Füssli and Gabriel Lory. Young Bodmer and his older brother, Rudolf, joined their uncle on artistic travels throughout their home country. The spelling of his name was changed to Karl around 1850.
A major turning point in Bodmer’s life was his being contracted to the Prinz Maximilian zu Wied-Neuweid, German aristocrat, known popularly to naturalists then and even now as Prince Max. He had already successfully led a scientific expedition to Brazil in 1815-1817, and decided to embark on another such venture, this time to North America.
Bodmer, in the company of Prince Max and a huntsman and taxidermist, David Dreidoppel, set out for America in 1832. They began their journey down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, arriving in Mt. Vernon, Indiana, and to New Harmony, Indiana.
When the expedition was complete, he returned to Germany with Prince Maximilian, and then traveled to France. In Paris he had many scenes from the expedition, 81 totals, reproduced as aquatints. The Prince had these images incorporated into his book, which was published in London in 1839.
After returning to Europe, Bodmer lived in Barbizon, France, where he became a French citizen. At that point he changed his name to “Charles Bodmer.” Today the majority of his originals are located in three collections in the United States, with the majority of them located at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska.
