Monday, July 07, 2008

Prince Maximilian’s Journals provide the text for Bodmer’s paintings

If you love the watercolors of Karl Bodmer, you will want to read the journals of Prince Maximilian. Looking at the drawings alone is like reading a comic book missing its words. The first volume of a modern edition of the journals has just been published by the University of Oklahoma Press. It is available from the press at a cost of $85. (The ISBN number is 978-0-8061-3888-6.) The title is The North American Journals of Prince Maximilian of Wied: Volume 1: May 1832-April 1833. I just bought a copy at Joslyn Art Museum, the home of both the Bodmer drawings and the original journals of Prince Maximilian. This publication has been long awaited, and it was well worth the wait. It is a glorious publication. 

Joslyn Art Museum has a current exhibit, Karl Bodmer’s Eastern Views: Celebrating Volume 1 of the North American Journals of Prince Maximilian of Wied, which will be up through August 31st. The small paintings cover their voyage across the Atlantic, their travels from the east coast to St. Louis, and their stay in the utopian scholarly community of New Harmony, Indiana. It is worth a trip to Omaha, Nebraska to view. If you travel by car, many sites they visited are destinations in my book, Lewis and Clark Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America. With the publication of the next two volumes, we will be able to make many comparisons between the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Maximilian’s travels. When Maxmilian and his companions traveled up the Missouri they visited many of the same places, using copies of maps provided by William Clark. (The map copies are also part of the Joslyn collection.) Bodmer’s paintings have always been considered as primary resources for the Lewis and Clark Journals, as they were painted only about thirty years later.

The journals were written in old German script (which made it hard to translate); and contain delightful small illustrations by the Prince himself. We saw an original journal on display at the exhibit. Editors Stephen S. Witte and Marsha V. Gallagher have done a beautiful job of incorporating his illustrations and providing additional commentary in a page layout that makes it a joy to read.  The book is a classic, and upon publication of all three volumes, will provide much needed, valuable information. It is also fun to read; unlike the official report style of the Lewis and Clark Journals, it is a personal journal, filled with insights and observations. What a treat to finally get to know Prince Max, and to put the words with the pictures!

Posted by Kira Gale on 07/07/2008 at 01:25 PM

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