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Peter Rindisbacher

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Photography by Dwight Primiano
Peter Rindisbacher
Photography by Dwight Primiano

Peter Rindisbacher

Swiss, 1806 - 1834
Biography(b Luchsmatt, Switzerland, 12 April 1806; d St Louis, MO, 15 Aug 1834).
Swiss painter, active in North America. His only training came from a brief sketching trip taken with the Swiss painter Jacob S. Weibel (1771–1846). In the autumn of 1821 his family moved to the Red River Colony in southern Manitoba. On the 79-day journey Rindisbacher sketched the icebergs and views he saw on the trip. During his five-year stay in Manitoba he recorded the Assiniboin, Dakota, Cree and Ojibway tribes. Pencil sketches provided the material for his watercolour paintings of their dress and activities (e.g. A Party of Indians—Assiniboins, c. 1820–25; New York, Knoedler’s). In 1826 the family moved to southern Wisconsin, where he added miniature portraits to his repertory of Indian and wildlife scenes. The military officers in the region liked his work and were highly supportive. During the late summer of 1829 he moved to St Louis, MO. Newspapers carried praise of his Indian subjects, one journalist mentioning in particular his skill in drawing the human figure and conveying its muscularity, while advertisements placed by Rindisbacher announced his availability to paint miniatures and landscapes. From February 1830 until October 1833 the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine published nine lithographs of Rindisbacher’s works. [Darryl Patrick. "Rindisbacher, Peter." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed September 10, 2014, http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T072203.]
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