Philip Georg Friedrich von Reck Drawings

A military camp along the coast of Georgia

"In 1736, Philip Georg Friedrich von Reck, then only twentyfive years old, sailed with other colonists from Germany to Georgia. One of his intentions, expressed in a letter before he left Europe, was to bring back from America "ocular proof" of what he called "this strange new world." Idealistic nad enthusiastic, welleducated and blessed with an amazing artistic gift, von Reck kept a travel diary, wrote separate descriptions of the plants, animals and Indians he discovered in Georgia and drew some fifty watercolor and pencil sketches of what he saw.

The Mico of the Yuchi named Senkaitschi

An Indian woman weaving a basket of reed

An Indian who lived with us for a time

Indians going a-hunting

An Indian Camp

The Indian King and Queen of the Yuchis

A war dance

Huts of the Indians

Sassafras

These drawings, accompanied by von Reck's writings, are important as history, science and art. As history, they give us a new and absolutely unique glimpse of Georgia as it looked when the first Europeans settled there. As science, von Reck's natural history drawings represent the earliest records of several plants and animals. Von Reck's drawings and writings are especially important for the light they shed on Indian life. The drawings show in detail their costumes and equipment, houses and activities. As art, von Reck's drawings are as fresh, intimate and alive on the paper as the day they were drawn."

Great blue heron

squash

(Extract from 'Introduction' to VON RECK'S VOYAGE. Drawings and Journal of Philip Georg Friedrich von Reck. Edited by Kristian Hvidt. With the Assistance of Joseph Ewan, George F. Jones and William C. Sturtevant. The Beehive Press, Savannah 1980.)

Copy and images from here.