Positive Aesthetics: The Scientifically Interesting

Kenneth McKenzie asked Prince Maximillian of Wied-Neuwied why he and Karl Bodmer, his personal landscape artist, had come to such a terrible land. He got the following answer:

"He has made a valuable and interesting collection of objects in Natural history & Mr. Bodmer has been very industrious in making drawings of the peculiarly interesting scenery of the upper country with a great number of Indian portraits. The Baron expresses himself as greatly interested with his voyage. . . ."

This painting is the first ever made of the Rocky Mountains. It is composed from several perspectives, rather than a a single scenic view.

Karl Bodmer, View of the Rocky Mountains, 1830s, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha