EDWARD S. CURTIS. Plate 373 Canoeing on Clayoquot Sound, 1915. 11.75x15.5" image on 14x17" copper plate. Plate date 1916. From Portfolio 11, Nootka. Haida and Vancouver Island Canada, of The North American Indian. Engraved on plate recto: Plate 373 / Canoeing on Clayoquot Sound / From Copyright Photograph 1915 by E.S. Curtis / Photogravure John Andrew & Son.

Curtis wrote about this: "Two Hesquiat women are homeward bound with the product of their day's labor in gathering food, and cedar-bark to be used in making mats."

In addition to being a proficient pictorial photographer Curtis was also, as here, a proficient documentary photographer.

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) created a legacy that was a monumental visual tour de force, an ethnographic, heroic and theatrical record of the American Indian and their recollected and imagined way of life before the white man. Between 1898 and 1928, working in collaboration with many tribal members, Curtis created an ethno-historical account combined with photographic notions of character portraiture, environmental portraiture, and classical romanticism as well as straight documentary views. He published 20 octavo volumes with around 75 prints per volume each accompanied with a larger portfolio of usually 36 hand pulled photogravures. The North American Indian (1906-1928) is considered the most lavish and elegantly illustrated set of photographic books ever produced. This lot has the unique copper plate made for this publication under Curtis' supervision.

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