Karl Bodmer

Where the Buffalo Roam

by Brooke Chilvers

Bodmer made countless pencil and ink studies in the field as well as 400 watercolors, his pigments freezing during one harsh spell. Although he could work quickly under precarious conditions, he often returned to a spot to add detail or to see it from another vantage point. His works are more finely composed, more scientific in spirit, more remote, precise, and anthropological than Catlin’s, whose spontaneity captured a deeper personal essence of the individuals he painted. Looking at their works side by side, one can hardly believe their careers overlapped. Full Article