EDWARD S. CURTIS. Crow Dog - Brule, 1907. 7.2X4.7" image on 9x5.7"copper plate. Plate date 1908. From Volume 3, Sioux, of The North American Indian. Engraved plate recto: Crow Dog - Brule/From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S.Curtis.

Curtis notes: In 1881 Spotted Tail was murdered by Crow Dog, a Brule sub-chief, as the result of a feud involving jealousy and politics.

To make the photogravure prints from the negative, Curtis created a glass positive that he would edit on and then, working with the great photogravure printing companies in Boston, John Andrew & Son that became Suffolk Engraving Company, they made over 2200 copper plates from which the photogravures were to be printed. These plates were then steel faced for small printing runs then refaced, preserving the original image that was etched into the copper plate. Lot 5010 has the description of the process. Aesthetically they are brilliant shiny copper, almost gold-like, aesthetic objects on which the image glows; they have sold for as much as $700,000. As opposed to the edition of approximately 300 photogravures that were made from each plate and open edition chemical prints Curtis made in his studios, these are unique photographic objects.

Very Good. Minor scratches, tarnish, dents, abrasions small dark spots, and ink residue throughout plate surface