In the Forest 1851

Karl Bodmer made this print, "In the Forest," using etching and aquatint. Through this dark forest scene, we might consider ideas about man's relationship to nature and the ways in which landscape can be used to create emotional effects. Bodmer was a European artist who traveled to America in the 1830s. He was employed to record images of the American West. His images helped shape European and American perceptions of the landscape and the Native American people who lived there. But this particular image is more evocative than documentary. The image contains a lone figure crawling on the ground in a dense forest, which could suggest feelings of vulnerability. How did social ideas about nature influence his representation? What was the role of the untamed landscape in the American imagination? To understand this image better, we could investigate Bodmer’s biography. We can look at travel narratives and consider the artist's training and the art institutions from which he emerged.