Historic images of Native Americans by a Swiss artist find their way back to North Dakota

State Historical Society of North Dakota Director Bill Peterson views two Karl Bodmer aquatints on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, at the North Dakota Heritage Center and State Museum in Bismarck, N.D. Credit: AP/Jack Dura

“When Four Bears got all dressed up for Bodmer’s portrait, it’s not like he went about his everyday life completely dressed up,” Goodhouse said.

Given the Native American subjects, Goodhouse said he wishes a percentage of sales could go toward supporting contemporary Native American efforts to improve education, health and housing.

Several years after Bodmer’s journey, a smallpox epidemic in 1837 nearly destroyed the tribes he portrayed along the Upper Missouri. Amy Mossett, a member of the State Historical Board and education administrator for the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation’s Tribal Education, said entire families died and people had no time to save or pass along material possessions.

“So much was lost, and so when I look at these images, it just kind of preserves … the images of our culture when it was still very active and still very much alive,” said Mossett, a Mandan/Hidatsa member of the MHA Nation.

To have the aquatints back in the area where they originated may be serendipitous but also destiny, she said.

“Just thinking about the whole circular approach to life, I think there’s just a reason why they came back here and this is really where they belong,” Mossett said.

The State Historical Society is still tracing where the artworks’ provenance. North Dakota history lover Sam McQuade Jr. donated $150,000 to the State Historical Society of North Dakota Foundation, which worked with Masters Gallery and purchased the artworks and donated them to the State Historical Society for its permanent collection.

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Publish date : 2024-12-05 02:40:00

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