Council Bluffs and Omaha's First Artist- George Simons

Accidentally Historic

The West intrigued many artists. The challenge for those seeking to use their work as a historical record 150 years later is differentiating between what was artistic license versus reality. Thanks to the cook hired for the railroad surveying party of Grenville Dodge, Council Bluffs and Omaha are extremely fortunate. George Simons was a self-taught artist, thus not influenced by the artist methods directed by the art schools of the day. As a folk artist, his style was to document things as he saw them, remarkably free of embellishments. Simons provided the earliest pictorial record of Council Bluffs and Omaha, and one that is apparently quite accurate. In the episode Council Bluffs artist Andrew Peters and Historic General Dodge House director Tom Emmett discuss the style, significance and legacy of George Simons work, as well as the man himself. Mr. Peters severs on the board of directors of PACE (Pottawattamie Arts, Culture & Entertainment); Mr. Emmett severs on the board of directors of Preserve Council Bluffs. A short video overview of this presentation can be found on the Historical Society of Pottawattamie County's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2BijwKxeirRtL7QLnyfMzg. Photographs of many of the sketches and paintings mentioned are in the collection of the Council Bluffs Public Library and can be viewed online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/cbpl/albums/72157625464657773.