Bodmer painted the Hidatsa man, Awascho-Dickfas (“Swallow with the White Belly”), in March, 1834 at Ft. Clark and later used his figure in the aquatint Tableau 27, Scalp Dance of the Minitarres.

The circular pattern painted on the back of the robe symbolically diagrams a wolf pack. The perimeter elements represent the tracks and trails of wolves. The black spot at the center signifies their den.

The wolf tails adorning the moccasins were part of the ceremonial regalia used by some of the Hidatsa men’s societies. The wolf was a totemic figure whose stalking and hunting powers were attributes with which the men wished to associate themselves.

About Karl Bodmer

In 1832-34 German explorer-naturalist Prince Maximilian of Weid-Neuweid traveled the interior regions of North America to document what he referred to as vanishing cultures, the tribes of Native Americans who live in what was then a vast wilderness west of the Mississippi. Accompanying him was 23-year-old Swiss artist Karl Bodmer (1809-93), whom Maximilian employed to capture a “faithful and vivid picture” of American Indian people. During their journey, Bodmer painted chiefs and warriors from the same tribes -- and in some cases the same individuals -- that Lewis & Clark met on their journey nearly three decades before.

If you'd like to see and learn more about this fascinating body of work, click here to buy Karl Bodmer's America at Amazon.com