CONTACT: Patricia Spencer, Public Information Officer
406.447.6684 pspencer@lclibrary.org
Lecturer Lee Silliman to Present on Montana’s Premier Frontier Artist, Karl Bodmer
April 18, 2018 (Helena, MT)—Your Lewis & Clark Library is pleased to present “Karl Bodmer: Montana’s Premier Frontier Artist: An Illustrated Talk” by Lee Silliman on
Thursday, May 3rd at 7PM in the Library’s Large Meeting Room.
The talk, by print collector and exhibitor, Lee Silliman will focus on Karl Bodmer’s (1809-1893) artful portraits of Native Americans in their prime before the onslaught of white encroachment forever changed their life-ways. Being an astute observer as he ventured from Fort Union upstream to Fort McKenzie (near present day Fort Benton, Montana), Bodmer created the first artistic descriptions of Montana disseminated to the outside world. Silliman’s lecture will trace the sojourners’ route, illustrate the varying tribes and landscapes met along the way, relate interesting events, and offer colorful portraits of Native Americans that are still venerated and studied by modern students of the American West.
At the conclusion of the presentation, Silliman will display a few original Bodmer prints (some of which are beautifully hand-tinted) issued in the 1840s. He will also have for audience inspection a number of his Karl Bodmer books for those people interested in further study.
Karl Bodmer was the Swiss-born artist employed to accompany the German prince/scientist Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied in his travels up the Missouri River into the heart of Montana in 1833-1834. He left an unparalleled trove of ethnographic art depicting the Native American tribes of the Upper Missouri River country, as well as regional fauna and geology. As a student of the celebrated German philosopher naturalist Alexander Von Humboldt, Prince Maximilian, in concert with Bodmer, his commissioned artist, sought to record in words and images the material culture, daily life, and ceremonial aspects of peoples they realized might soon be decimated by disease, war, and resource diminution. Upon their return to Europe Maximilian prepared a voluminous narrative of his American travels, which was lavishly illustrated by Bodmer’s painstakingly prepared aquatint engravings, based upon his field sketches and carefully executed watercolor paintings. Bodmer’s body of imagery was widely copied and became the template for visualizing the native inhabitants of the Northern High Plains.
Lecturer Lee Silliman, is a retired educator and museum employee living in Missoula, Montana. Since early childhood he has nurtured a strong interest in the art and history of nineteenth century Montana and the American West.
For the past twenty years Silliman has been collecting vintage prints depicting the frontier West which were published or printed in the 1800s. From this collection of over 1200 artworks he has assembled traveling exhibits in his home based picture framing shop. These exhibitions have been displayed in dozens of regional museums. Topics include Yellowstone National Park, Frederic Remington, John James Audubon, the American bison, the mining frontier, and western wildlife.
Silliman’s interests in Western Americana art and history have spawned many articles on these subjects, plus six books which he has edited and published. His most recent book was A Ride to the Infernal Regions: Yellowstone’s First Tourists (Riverbend Press, Helena, MT, 2003). He has presented many conference lectures, taught numerous workshops, and led four educational group tours.
-30-