A Swiss Eye on the American West: The Life and Art of Karl Bodmer Johann Carl Bodmer, more widely known as Karl Bodmer, was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1809 – a pivotal figure whose artistic journey intertwined European Romanticism with the dramatic transformation unfolding across the North American frontier. His early life, shrouded in some mystery, reveals a foundation meticulously laid by his uncle, Johann Jakob Meier, a respected engraver and watercolorist. This formative apprenticeship instilled within Bodmer an unparalleled attention to detail and a mastery of draftsmanship that wo…