An exhibit entitled "An Artist with the Corps of Discovery" is on display through August 30th at The Buffalo Bill Historic Center in Cody, Wyoming.
Although Lewis & Clark made maps and recorded plenty of scientific data, they didn't have an artist along with them. To celebrate the bicentennial of the Lewis & Clark expedition, plein-air painter Charles Fritz visited the sites that were recorded in their journal. His paintings were done at the same time of year as when the expedition was at the location, and each one is accompanied by a journal entry. The scene above shows Captain Lewis at the Great Falls of the Missouri, and the journal entry reads, "I wished for the pencil of Salvator Rosa or the pen of Thompson, that I might be enabled to give to the enlightened world some just idea of this truly magnificent and sublimely grand object..." – Captain Meriwether Lewis, June 13, 1805
Charles Fritz has been a professional painter for thirty years. He lives in Billings, Montana.
2 comments:
What a neat idea, to go in the tracks of Lewis and Clark! Did you find yourself feeling in communion with their spirits as you painted? I'd expect a lot of time-warps would come through while you were out there.
Thanks, Helen! We'll forward your comment to him.
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