Set of Three Original Early 20th Century E. S. Curtis Photgravures

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Edward Sheriff Curtis
Set of Three Original Early 20th Century E. S. Curtis Photgravures
1903 and 1907

About the Item

Set of three Edward Sheriff Curtis original photogravures; Quniaika- Mohave, Portfolio #2, Plate #60, Qahatika Water Girl, Portfolio #2, Plate #54, Home of the Havasupai, Portfolio #2, Plate #72 printed in 1903, 1907, and 1903, respectively, on Holland Van Gelder, a hand-made paper Each piece is from Curtis' magnum opus work, "The North American Indian Project." A thirty year endeavor, the project, which was started in 1900, documents over 80 Native American tribes living west of the Mississippi between Alaska and Mexico. The 'North American Indian' consisted of 20 volumes, each with 75 hand-pressed photogravures and 300 pages of test. A corresponding portfolio was included with each volume which contained photogravures such as this one. Each piece is presented in a custom wood frame, outer dimensions for the portraits measure 26 ¼ x 21 ½ x ¾ inches. Image measures 17 x 10 ¾ inches, and the landscape at 24 ½ x 30 ¼ x ¾ inches framed and 12 ¾ x 16 ½ inches unframed. The image is sepia in coloring and each is signed and titled within the plate. Pieces are clean and in very good condition - please contact us for a detailed condition report. Expedited and international shipping is available - please contact us for a quote. About the Artist: Edward Sherriff Curtis Born in Wisconsin, 1868 Died in California, 1952 Edward Curtis’ body of work, spanning from 1900 to 1930, is now widely considered the single most momentous undertaking ever embarked on in the history of American Ethnography. Curtis’ passion for photography can be rooted back to his early childhood. Edward’s father, Reverend Johnson Curtis, gave him a stereopticon lens that he had gathered during his participation in the Civil War some 15 years earlier. Curtis used this lens, along with parts he bought with money he had accrued, to build his first ever fully functioning camera. By the time the Curtis family moved west to Seattle in 1887, young Edward was already well versed in the fine points of photography. In 1890 Curtis, filled with a burning entrepreneurial desire, elected to place a loan on the family holdings in order to partner in a small photography studio. By 1892, having enjoyed a small measure of profitability, Curtis married Clara Phillips. The couple was eager to begin a family together and had four children: Beth, Florence, Harold, and Katherine. It was also during this time period that Curtis was most fortunate to meet Princess Angeline, one of the last Native Americans still residing within Seattle. Curtis took a keen interest in Angeline, and in 1896 asked her to his studio for the opportunity to formally photograph her. This represents a pivotal moment in Curtis’ life, and may be considered the act with which he became inexorably transfixed by Native Americans. Observing the mannerisms displayed by Princess Angeline, Curtis realized that Native Americans were losing their identity, and that he had the unique opportunity to document, and thereby preserve, what was left of their culture. In 1899 Curtis was extended an invitation to join the Harriman expedition as its head photographer. This expedition, coupled with his booming studio business, quickly gave Curtis a level of national exposure. In 1900, George Bird Grinnell, acquaintance from the Harriman expedition a year earlier, asked Curtis to join him on another expedition to Montana to observe the Sun Dance ceremony. This dichotomy was particularly enriching for Curtis, seeing that Grinnell had been executing field studies of the Blackfeet and Piegan nations for 20 years and was able to secure the trust and knowledge of their people. It was during this same year that Curtis, newly inspired by what he had witnessed during his travels with Grinnell, struck out on his own self-financed venture to Arizona to observe the Hopi, Navajo, and Apache tribes. 1904 was a benchmark year for Curtis, for he won a national portrait contest that lead to an invitation from President Theodore Roosevelt to photograph one of his children. President Roosevelt shared many of Curtis’ concerns about the current state of Native Americans in the southwestern United States; before long the two were very close friends. This newfound friendship with the President was rather advantageous for Curtis. Coupled with financial backing received in 1906 from J.P. Morgan, Curtis was now fully funded and granted access to Indian lands and rituals otherwise closed to the public. The North American Indian project was now underway, a venture that would eventually stand out as the catalyst for his life’s work. The North American Indian was comprised of an exorbitant twenty volume and twenty portfolio set; portraying various Native American subject matter in photogravure, documenting Native American traditions through text, and the dictation of language and music. Upon completion of his colossal undertaking in 1930, Curtis, both mentally and physically depleted, succumbed to a complete breakdown that would last the better part of two years. The final score of his life would be spent in Los Angeles with his daughter Beth. In 1952 Curtis passed away, far removed from the level of prosperity enjoyed earlier in life. Ethnographically speaking, what Curtis’ photography embodies is an ability to see through the countenance of every subject, and envisage their culture, who they were, and where they came from. So poignant was this notion that, Curtis’ work effectively transcends the boundary between mere documentation and art.

Creator:
Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868 - 1952, American)
Creation Year:
1903 and 1907
Dimensions:
Height: 24.5 in (62.23 cm)Width: 30.25 in (76.84 cm)Depth: 0.75 in (1.91 cm)
Medium:
Paper,Photogravure
Movement & Style:
American Modern
Period:
1900-1909
Condition:
Gallery Location:
Denver, CO
Reference Number:
Seller: 25989, 25990, 259951stDibs: LU27310640392

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Set of Three Original Early 20th Century E. S. Curtis Photgravures

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Edward Sheriff Curtis
Set of Three Original Early 20th Century E. S. Curtis Photgravures
1903 and 1907

About the Item