Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (1834-1904)

Frédéric Auguste BARTHOLDI (1834-1904) View of the plains of the Midwest, United States, around 1871. Gouache watercolor 13 x 21 cm Annotated on the back ''Picked up in Bartholdi's wastepaper basket by his valet'' Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi began his first trip to the United States in 1871, in order to promote his project of ''Statue of Liberty'' During this trip he crossed the great plains of the Midwest, to reach California. From this journey he brought back watercolors taken on the spot. A watercolour very close to our drawing, of similar dimensions, is kept at the Bartholdi Museum in Colmar (inv.2006.0.104) (see Régis Hueber, ''Auguste Bartholdi and the Universal Exhibition of Philadelphia, 1876. Fasicule II, La Californie de Jadis - La Californie Nouvelle'' Bartholdi Museum 2011, fig 9, p.39.