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Herds of Bisons and Elks on the upper Missouri

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Photography by Edward C. Robison III.
Herds of Bisons and Elks on the upper Missouri
Photography by Edward C. Robison III.

Herds of Bisons and Elks on the upper Missouri

Artist (Swiss, 1809 - 1893)
Author (1782 - 1867)
Date1832-1834
MediumHand-colored aquatint
Dimensions17 1/4 × 23 1/2 in. (43.8 × 59.7 cm)
matted: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
Framed: 21 1/4 in. × 25 in. × 1 3/4 in.
mat opening: 12 3/8 × 12 3/4 in. (31.4 × 32.4 cm)
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2009.26.47
Accession number 2009.26.47
DescriptionDisbound from folio atlas volume of forty-eight plates
On View
On view
ProvenanceAuthor; to Frederick Schuchart, NY, 1844; (William Reese Company, New Haven, CT); purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2009
Label TextSwiss artist Karl Bodmer accompanied Prince Maximilian into the Great Plains of what is now known as the United States in the 1830s. Although many Europeans’ journeys preceded theirs, it was the wide circulation of Bodmer’s resulting drawings and paintings as prints accompanying Maximilian’s book about his journey that created a long-lasting mythical image of America. Bodmer’s renderings provided the first glimpses for Europeans and eastern Americans of the land, animals, and peoples living in America. They created romantic and picturesque perceptions of Native peoples living in a country filled with dramatic landscapes and abundant wildlife.

El artista suizo Karl Bodmer acompañó al príncipe Maximiliano a las Grandes Llanuras de lo que hoy se conoce como los Estados Unidos alrededor de 1830. Aunque muchas travesías europeas precedieron la de ellos, la amplia circulación de los dibujos y las pinturas resultantes de Bodmer como estampas que acompañaban el libro de Maximiliano sobre su viaje creó una imagen mítica de los Estados Unidos. Las representaciones de Bodmer fueron el primer vistazo para los europeos y los estadounidenses en el este sobre el territorio, los animales y las personas que vivían en el oeste, y originaron percepciones románticas y pintorescas de los pueblos nativos que vivían en tierras llenas de paisajes impresionantes y una abundante vida silvestre.