Lot 220

Portraits of Native American Peoples of the Missouri River; Karl Bodmer, 1836–1843 Engraved in Paris between 1836 and 1843 - Each Sheet: 15 x 11 inches.

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Portraits of Native American Peoples of the Missouri River; Karl Bodmer, 1836–1843 Engraved in Paris between 1836 and 1843 - Each Sheet: 15 x 11 inches.

Estimate: $200 - $300

by Sloans & Kenyon
June 4, 2026 11:00 AM EDT (In Progress)
Live Auction
5550 Friendship Boulevard
T60
Chevy Chase, MD, US 20815

Portraits of Native American Peoples of the Missouri River; Karl Bodmer, 1836–1843

Two unframed lithographic plates belong to the landmark publication "Travels in the Interior of North America" by Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied, illustrated with prints based on field sketches made by the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer during their 1832–1834 expedition along the Missouri River. The upper plate, numbered 40, presents three figures identified in bilingual German and French captions as a Chief of the Pawnee, an Oto Indian, and a Missouri Indian. The lower plate, numbered 47, depicts a Sauk man and a Sauk woman in profile and three-quarter view respectively, the man distinguished by a roach headdress with feathers and facial tattooing, the woman wrapped in a blanket and wearing traditional dress with fringe ornamentation. Originally engraved in Paris between 1836 and 1843, these prints stand as some of the most ethnographically precise and artistically accomplished visual documents of Plains and Woodland Native American peoples ever produced, capturing with rare fidelity the dress, adornment, and dignified bearing of individuals. Unframed.

  • Provenance: ARTIST PROFILE: Karl Bodmer was born on February 11, 1809, in Riesbach, near Zurich, Switzerland, and would go on to become one of the most accomplished and versatile artist-naturalists of the nineteenth century, working as a printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draughtsman, painter, and illustrator. He received his early artistic training in Europe before being recruited in 1832 by the German explorer and naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied to accompany him on an ambitious scientific expedition into the interior of North America. Over the course of two years, Bodmer traveled deep into the American frontier along the Missouri River, producing hundreds of meticulous watercolors and sketches documenting the landscapes, flora, fauna, and — most significantly — the peoples of the Great Plains and Upper Missouri, including the Mandan, Hidatsa, Blackfoot, Sioux, and many other nations. His images, later engraved and published in the monumental atlas accompanying Maximilian's *Travels in the Interior of North America* (1839–1841), are celebrated to this day as among the most scientifically precise and artistically refined visual records of Native American life ever created, made just before the catastrophic disruptions of westward expansion. After returning to Europe, Bodmer settled in the artists' colony of Barbizon, France, where he spent the remainder of his long career painting landscapes and woodland scenes in the Barbizon tradition, until his death on October 30, 1893.
  • Dimensions: Each Sheet: 15 x 11 inches

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