Crow Indians
Crow Indians
Artist
Karl Bodmer
(Swiss, 1809 - 1893)
Author
Prince Maximilian of Wied
(1782 - 1867)
Date1832-1834
MediumHand-colored aquatint
Dimensions11 3/8 × 16 1/2 in. (28.9 × 41.9 cm)
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2009.26.61
Accession number
2009.26.61
DescriptionDisbound from an oblong quarto volume of thirty-three vignette platesOn View
Not on viewLabel TextOn April 10, 1833, Prince Maximilian and his retinue departed St. Louis, Missouri, and traveled on the steamboat Yellow-Stone up the Missouri River. They arrived at Fort Pierre, across from present-day Pierre, South Dakota, on May 30. Here, they boarded the steamer Assiniboine to continue their journey upstream to Fort Clark, near modern Bismarck, North Dakota. The Crow Indians in this scene were part of a large group of tribal members who had encamped in this area. Maximilian wrote in his journal in June, 1833: “Here we saw remarkably tall and handsome men, and fine dresses, for they had all done their utmost to adorn themselves. The haughty Crows rode on beautiful panther skins, with red cloth under them, and, as they never wear spurs, had a whip of elk’s horn in their hand. These 349 mounted warriors, with their diversely painted faces, feathers in their long hair, bow and arrows slung across their backs, and with a musket or spear in their hands, the latter of which is merely for show, were a novel and highly interesting scene.” After the brief stop, the explorers continued their trip to Fort Union, located at the
junction of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers close to today’s North Dakota/Montana border.
