Bodmer, Karl. “Punka Indians Encamped on the Banks of the Missouri.”

Karl Bodmer.  “Punka Indians Encamped on the Banks of the Missouri.” From Graham’s Magazine. 

Philadelphia, 1845.  4 3/8 x 6 ¾ (image).  Engraving by Smillie and Hinshelwood.  Hand color.  Very good condition.  

Karl Bodmer (1809-1893) is considered by many authorities to be the greatest nineteenth-century artist to have produced prints of the American West.  In 1832 he came to American with his patron, Prince Maximilian of Wied, to put together as complete a study as possible of the western territories of the United States.  Maximilian was an experience and respected traveler and naturalist who intended to issue a report complete with graphic illustrations, for which he hired Bodmer.  The resulting publication of Maximilian's journals and Bodmer's prints was issued 1839 and 1843.  Shortly thereafter, in 1845, reduced versions of Bodmer’s images appeared in the Philadelphia publication, Graham’s Magazine.  Finely copied in steel engraving, these are contemporary and affordable examples of Bodmer’s classic western images.