Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied, a German scientist, invited the young Swiss artist Karl Bodmer to join him on an expedition across the Great Plains to document Native American life. They set out from St. Louis in 1832, heading north on the Missouri River and stopping along the way in what became Missouri, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Montana. Maximilian took copious notes and tirelessly interviewed the individuals who sat for Bodmer, while the artist created hundreds of sketches and watercolors, capturing the glory of the land and portraying Indians of various tribes with meticulous, animated detail. The intrepid travelers witnessed a rapidly changing world, then laboriously transformed their invaluable field notes and drawings into "one of the last of the great illustrated books of the Enlightenment,"
Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-1834. This ambitious, arduous undertaking, reminiscent of Audubon's
Birds of America, is far too little known. Now art historian Ruud and his contributors bring this grand achievement to light, chronicling Maximilian and Bodmer's excellent adventure in a suitably lavish volume rich in fascinating history and spectacular illustrations.
Donna SeamanCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
"Bodmer . . . wandered with the prince [Maximilian] for 13 months up the Missouri River, and the drawings and watercolors he made of what he saw . . . are the visual equivalent of Lewis and Clark''s journals. As Ron Tyler points out in his introductory essay to the meticulously illustrated Karl Bodmer''s North American Prints, edited by Brandon K. Ruud, Bodmer arrived at a time when Europeans, besotted with fantasies of James Fenimore Cooper, had no idea what Indians really looked like. This volume documents in rich detail the popular diffusion—by engravings and lithographs—of Bodmer''s original designs."—New York Times Book Review, Holiday Gift Books List
(
New York Times Book Review )
"[T]hese prints . . . are unmatched in their meticulous and sympathetic rendering of a magnificent yet altered culture."—Bookforum
(
Bookforum )
"Chronicle[s] Maximilian and Bodmer''s excellent adventure in a suitably lavish volume rich in fascinating history and spectacular illustrations."—Booklist
(
Booklist )
"Karl Bodmer''s North American Prints is a monumental documentation and appreciation of one of the last great topographic/ethnographic projects in the 19th century to be accomplished with the engraving process. . . . The great accomplishment of this volume is that it compiles most of the extant versions of the images from collections around the world."—Bloomsbury Review
(
Bloomsbury Review )
“Karl Bodmer’s North American Prints is a work of outstanding scholarship. In examining thoroughly the work of an artist whose brief sojourn in the tran-Mississippi West resulted in the creation of a unique pictorial documentary, it is destined to become a reference of first importance to serious collectors of Bodmer prints, as well as to Western Art historians, ethnologists, and all who value authentic testimonials to the nineteenth-century American experience.—David C. Hunt, Great Plains Quarterly
(David C. Hunt
Great Plains Quarterly )
“Karl Bodmer’s North American Prints contains an excellent introduction by Joslyn director J. Brooks Joyner and two essays…. This magnificent book is a worthy companion to the previously published volume, Karl Bodmer’s America…. This present effort is recommended for any serious art history student or aficionado of the American West or the American Indian."—James A Hanson, Nebraska History
(James A. Hanson
Nebraska History )
“A fascinating study, especially when accompanied by so many of Bodmer’s wonderful prints…. More than an inch and a half thick and measuring 12 by 12 inches, the book is simply huge – and the quality of content and production matches its size."—Nebraska Life
(
Nebraska Life )
“This sumptuous book…is a triumph of academic publishing…. Karl Bodmer’s North American Prints is an exemplary work of scholarship. It is a credit to the authors, the publisher, and the museum that sponsored it.”—Brian W. Dippie, Montana The Magazine of Western History
(Brian W. Dippie
Montana The Magazine of Western History )
“In any book on art, the quality of the images requires comment. This book is superior. Not only are there excellent reproductions of Bodmer’s works, but also details of images that show variations in Bodmer’s personal chops…. Any serious student of Bodmer, exploration of the West, or art history should acquire this book. It provides excellent contextual perspective, insight into the creation of this amazing series of images and a useful guide of identifying Bodmer’s work as opposed to copies made by others.”—Robert B. Pickering, Journal of the West
(Robert B. Pickering
Journal of the West )
“Thought it measures eleven and one-half inches square, is nearly two inches thick, and weighs more than five pounds, its real heft is in its contents. The examinations within weigh into aspects of western history, art history, and the analysis of both…. The authors take on the challenge of discerning why and to what extent the images were transformed, and what the changes indicate about the people and the time.”—Suzzane Kelley, Chronicles of Oklahoma
(Suzzane Kelley
Chronicles of Oklahoma )
“The first comprehensive study of Bodmer’s atlas prints (never before given the attention they deserve), which were originally created for Prince Maximillian’s Travels in the Interior of North America, 1832-1834.”—Brandon K. Ruud, True West
(Brandon K. Ruud
True West )
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
