Faces from the Interior

A fascinating visual record of nineteenth-century Indigenous communities in the American West

In the early nineteenth century, Prince Maximilian of Wied traveled the Missouri River to uncover what he called “the natural face of North America”—its landscapes, flora and fauna, and Native inhabitants. Among his small party was artist Karl Bodmer (1809–1893), who would prove to be one of the most accomplished and prolific artists to visit the American frontier. Bodmer and Maximilian traveled more than 2,500 miles together, spending time among the Mandan, Hidatsa, Omaha, Otoe, Pawnee, Yankton, Santee Sioux, Assiniboines, Plains Cree, Blackfeet, Piegans, Bloods, and Gros Ventre. Bodmer’s watercolors of the people he met remain among the most compelling visual accounts of the American West, an invaluable record of the Missouri River’s Indigenous communities. The first publication to focus on Bodmer as a portraitist, Faces from the Interior includes essays examining his artistic practice, the international dissemination of his images, and the ongoing significance of his work to Indigenous communities.

Toby Jurovics is former chief curator and Richard and Mary Holland Curator of American Western Art at Joslyn Art Museum. Scott Manning Stevens (Akwesasne Mohawk Nation) is director of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program at Syracuse University. Lisa Strong is director of the art and museum studies master’s program at Georgetown University. Kristine K. Ronan is visiting assistant professor in American art at Texas Christian University. Annika K. Johnson is associate curator of Native American art at Joslyn Art Museum.