Spent several days this week trying to land a portrait of Balduin Mollhausen, the Prussian artist who accompanied both The Whipple Expedition and the Ives Expedition in the early 1850s.
Mollhausen was with Whipple when they entered the Mojave villages along the Colorado River at the time Olive Oatman was a captive there. This has led some to speculate, she didn't want to be found because she was with child.
Whip Out In Progress:
"Balduin Mollhaussen, Part I"
Whip Out In Progress:
"Balduin Mollhaussen, Part II"
Whip Out In Progress:
"Balduin Mollhaussen, Part III"
Mollhausen will figure prominently in my graphic novel. My painting is based on a litho of him.
And, of course, I hate his headgear, so I had to change that! I also made him a little taller, he seemed a little too rolly polly to me.
Hey, artistic license!
"Too scrupulous an accuracy can but impede the freedom of imagination."
— Harry Graf Kessler
Hi, Bob
ReplyDeleteYour artwork is outstanding, as always. If I had ever heard of Balduin Mollhausen before, it didn't register. When I first saw the image, I thought it was Jerry Potts, the Canadian plainsman. There is a great deal of similarity between the famous photo of Potts and the original engraving of Mollhausen, even down to the silly hat! In any event, I will read up on Mollhausen and I can't wait to read your graphic novel. On the topic of German travelers on the American frontier, I just finished reading Frederick Gerstaecker's "Wild Sports in the Far West." I would recommend it to anyone interested in this sort of thing.
Brent B., TW Maniac #151