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Show 144 has been fully considered. The unique nature of art prevents straighforward evaluation of data. Art can never be a factual statement. The aquatints translate the watercolor images, reorganizing, synthesizing, idealizing the reality of the primary documents. In this instance, then, the aquatints are the "art," a transformation of the original watercolor images. The watercolors become the "documents," since they have the closer relationship to nature. However, in principle, the same process of reorganization, synthesis, and idealization was subjectively utilized in the development of the watercolors, as would be applied later in the production of the aquatints. The watercolors are also "art" and thus translate into artistic convention the actual events that Maximilian and Bodmer witnessed. It is the event itself that becomes the only true document and, as such, cannot be directly touched or changed. It is this event that is of importance to historians and ethnologists. For an accurate interpretation of the event, the dissimilitude between art and nature must always be kept in mind. Recognition of this principle is essential, in order to come to a comprehensive understanding of the historical event as depicted through Bodmer's images.^ Thus, the definition of document, as well as that of art, must be redefined. This, indeed, applies equally to all documents. Maximilian's journal account of the expedition, for example, is also not the event itself, but a verbal matrix, that must also be interpreted. It is in this process of interpretation that care must be taken. At this point, interdisciplinary inquiry becomes not only advisable, but essential. Perceiving that the quest for definition is a shared endeavor can do much to enhance the understanding of both fields. |