Bodmer_Publication

Indianer: Wah Menitu, ein Dacota
[und] ein Muskole (Muskoke).
Litho graphie des Verlags J. Honegger
nach Originalvorlagen Karl Bodmers
von 1833. Der als «Muskole» bezeichnete
Indianer ist Wakusásse,
ein Fox oder Musquake. Aus:
Schinz 1835, Taf. 46.
Indians: Wah-Menitu, a Dakota [and]
a Muskole (Muskoke) man. Litho -
graph, J. Honegger’s printing office,
after original watercolors by Karl
Bodmer of 1833. The man described
as a “Muskole” is Wakusásse, a Fox,
or Musquake (Meskwaki), Indian.
From Schinz 1835: Pl. 46.
Bodmer’s illustrations; he was so thrilled by them that he wanted to include
some of them in the new edition of his Natural History.” 14 However, according to
Läng, it came to misunderstandings between Schinz and Bodmer because Prince
Maximilian had given Schinz a few watercolors without asking Bodmer. When
Bodmer traveled to Zurich in October 1834 to visit his family he received the
o pportunity to get to know Schinz personally and they were soon able to settle
their differences. Schinz now had the artist’s permission to publish some of his
Indian portraits in the new edition of Natural History, and Läng even assumes
that Bodmer was “personally present at Honegger’s lithographic office in Zurich
when the prints were being produced.” 15 In October 1835 Bodmer traveled from
Zurich to Neuwied, carrying with him the finished prints 16 for the Prince to see,
and probably also the original watercolors. These were being held at the family’s
residence in Neuwied and were part of the Prince’s American estate when it was
sold to the United States between 1959 and 1961. 17
Thus, Schinz’s new edition of Natural History from 1835 was the first publication
to include three prints of Bodmer’s original watercolor Indian portraits.
In this new edition Schinz completely rearranged the selection of pictures from
North America. Two of the plates show “Eskimo” whom he assigned to the Mongolian
race. The “North Americans” are represented on four plates: the first one
shows an idealized image of an Indian warrior from the Northeastern Woodlands.
Actually, it is a detail from Benjamin West’s famous painting The Death of General
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