Sunday, December 8, 2019 at 10:00 AM CDT

Art & Design with Tradition & Innovation

Sale 121 Lot 103

Edward Sheriff Curtis
(American, 1868-1952)
Homeward, circa 1898
platinum print
signed lower right and numbered 321-98 lower left
12" x 16"

Provenance:
Skinner, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
The Collection of Rich and Patty Thumann, Tacoma, Washington

Literature:
Curtis, Edward Sheriff, The North American Indian, The University Press, 1907-1930, supplement, v. 9, pl. 318

Catalog Note:
In a period oak frame.
Platinum prints by Curtis are extremely rare, amounting to less than half of one percent of his extant body of work. While such prints generally range in size from 4" x 5" to 24" x 36", it is very uncommon to encounter works by Curtis in this medium larger than 12" x 16". Varying paper weights and surfaces were used.

Curtis captured over 40,000 images from over 80 tribes. In addition to photographs, Curtis produced ten thousand wax cylinder recordings of Native American languages and captured the first film footage of American Indians.

In total, The North American Indian project included over 2,200 of Curtis's photographs and thousands of pages of anthropological research, organized into twenty volumes accompanied by bound portfolios of oversize gravures. This project spanned over 25 years wouldn't have been possible without the financial support and encouragement of influential figures such as Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and members of European royalty.

The complete contents of The North American Indian originally published by Edward S. Curtis between 1907-1930 can be found at http://curtis.library.northwestern.edu/aboutsite.html

Estimate $3,000-5,000

Sold for $8,125