EDWARD S. CURTIS. Plate 108 American Horse - Ogalala, 1908. 16x11" photogravure on 22x18" Holland Van Gelder paper. Print date 1908. From Portfolio 3, Sioux, of The North American Indian. Printed on print recto: American Horse - Sioux / From Copyright Photograph 1908 by E.S. Curtis / Photogravure John Andrew & Son.

This subject is one of the four chiefs whose election is described in Volume III, page 16. He died in December 1908. This pictorial portrait is softened by the extensive re-touching Curtis did in making the photogravure.

The photogravures were made by skilled printers from a hybrid photo-printmaking process. Curtis oversaw the production of the final prints. From the original negative, a glass positive was made and then the image was transferred chemically to a copper plate from which hand-pulled ink prints (photogravures) were made. Curtis printed his photogravures on the most elegant and archival handmade papers of the time: Holland Van Gelder, Japan Vellum and Tissue. The only other comparable project of this kind was Alfred Stieglitz's innovative publication Camera Work which also used photogravure reproductions of photographs.

Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) is regarded as the greatest photographer of the American Indian in the history of photography. Between 1898 and 1928 he made over 40,000 negatives of more than 80 Indian tribes west of the Mississippi and in Alaska. Curtis's intent was to document what he perceived to be a "vanishing race" of native Americans. To that end, he traveled and lived among the tribes for almost 30 years, gathering photographic images, written accounts, and sound recordings. Approximately 2200 images were published as photogravures in his mammoth work The North American Indian (1906-1928), now considered the most lavishly illustrated set of books ever produced. Additionally, Curtis made fine art prints which he sold out of his studios in Los Angeles and Seattle.

Before the turn of the century, Curtis and his brother Asahel worked as successful portrait photographers in their Seattle studio. Curtis was familiar with and compassionate toward Native Americans living in the Seattle area. Although popularly romanticized as "noble savages" they were living in severe poverty. In 1896 Curtis began his documentation of the Indians by photographing the daughter of Chief Seattle for whom the city had been named. His photographs of Princess Angeline digging clams won several awards and were exhibited internationally.

Very Good. Light foxing in margins. Print has been conserved. Conservation treatment report is available upon request.