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Arts & Activities, Feb, 2001 by Guy Hubbard
Most of Karl Bodmer's watercolors of the journey up the Missouri River were painted quickly, with many left unfinished. He would often paint a part of a scene in detail and leave the rest either roughly painted or outlined simply in pencil. He did this partly because these paintings were intended as sketches for more finished pictures to be done later. Another reason for these watercolor sketches being painted quickly was that he often had very little time to work because the boat was continually moving on and he dared not be left behind in the wilderness.
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In addition, because he had to carry all of his art materials, Bodmer could only take with him small-sized sketchbooks, watercolor paints, pencils, and pen and ink. As a result, all of the pictures he painted on the expedition were about the same size. The reproduction shown here, for example, is close to the actual size of the original painting.
This painting is an exception to most of his other watercolor paintings because it is fully finished. It was painted on August 6, 1833, and shows a section of the upper Missouri River near what today is called the "Badlands" of South Dakota. This is an area where for millions of years the landscape has been carved into fantastic shapes by the wind and rain. Bighorn sheep were often seen high up on these cliffs, although none is shown in this picture.
Some of the rocks are harder than others and have been left high up on tall pillars of softer rock. In this particular place, the river has been slowly cutting through a rocky barrier to expose a shining cliff of white rock. In fact, this picture has a second name, "The Great Gate," which emphasizes this magnificent sight that Bodmer chose to paint. The river has not completed its cutting task, however, because in the distance is a white area showing the rushing, shallow waters of some rapids.
This painting is made even more dramatic by the way Bodmer contrasted some of the rocky pinnacles in deep shadow, while leaving others almost pure white. Away from the rocks, the lower slopes are a warm brown and rounded as though made of soft earth. To make the light and dark areas of the landscape more dramatic, Bodmer chose to include a dull, cloudy sky. This final effect makes the scene romantic and mysterious, much like some of Bodmer's earlier paintings of the Rhine River in Germany.
To give added emphasis to the height of the surrounding cliffs and pinnacles, Bodmer also chose to paint the scene from a position close to the level of the river. In others of his paintings during the expedition, where he wanted to convey a feeling for the vastness of the prairies, he went to the highest point of land he could find to paint a picture.
Treacherous sandbanks and rapids constantly delayed the steamboats as they battled against the current. They often ran aground and sometimes were snagged by some of the thousands of trees that had been washed into the river during spring floods. For Bodmer, these delays provided opportunities to go ashore and paint landscapes and also make scientific illustrations of plants and animals. On other occasions, the expedition would stop at American Indian villages--on one occasion for an entire winter. Again, these were opportunities for Bodmer to paint the portraits of American Indians, as well as scenes of village life.
Each person on this expedition had an important job to do. The prince wrote a detailed journal of everything he saw, and his servant preserved some of the many animals they caught. Karl Bodmer's task was to record as much as possible of the many new sights they saw. While writing about Bodmer's work, the prince wrote this appreciation: "Wonders passed us as in a dream. They would, perhaps, have left but an indistinct and gradually fading impression, had not the skillful hand of the artist rescued them from oblivion."
COPYRIGHT 2001 Publishers' Development Corporation
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group
