Unusual Sandstone Formations on the Upper Missouri

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Unusual Sandstone Formations on the Upper Missouri

Date

August 2, 1833

Dimensions

7 15/16 × 12 1/2 in. (20.2 × 31.8 cm)

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.187

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

Beyond Soft Shell Turtle Creek on August 2, Maximilian observed that in a side valley "individual sandstone figures with flat, broad heads were standing like tables on a broad pedestal. The entire region is full of strange, novel formations which cannot be described." Several of Bodmer's views correspond to this written notation. The rendering reproduced here was probably made at about this time as the keelboat approached the region known locally as the Mauvaises Terres (Badlands), an area of the Missouri basin characterized by bare gray mountains and wind-worn peaks almost totally devoid of vegetation.

References in Journal

July 25, 1833

Labels:

study , Missouri River , study, geological

Approximate Depicted Location:

Beyond Soft Shell Turtle Creek, Upper Missouri