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Carl Bodmer: A Biographical Sketch, Hans Läng

Swiss American Historical Society Newsletter

Almost every illustrated work on North American Indians has pictures by Carl Bodmer, the gifted Swiss painter. Experts as well as interested laymen are impressed by his excellent portrayals of various types of Indians and their world. When we look for the artist's signature, however, we often find nothing but "after Wied" under the picture or else the name of an engraver. Thieme-Becker, Benezit, Nagel, and any number of other editors of the various encyclopedias of artists, refer to Carl Brun (Schwizerisches Kunstler-Lexikon, Frauenfeld 1905), whenever they mention Bodmer. And here, too, we find precious little information about the painter.