Curtis Edward

Edward S. Curtis Photogravure, "Walpi"


Photogravure after an original photograph by Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) entitled "Walpi" handsomely matted and framed behind glass. Originally appearing in The North American Indian, Volume 12, "The Hopi," plate no. 410. Printed along the bottom, from left to right, with the work's title; "From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S. Curtis;" and "Photogravure Suffolk Eng. Co. Boston." The sepia-colored print depicts a mud-brick Hopi settlement perched on a cliff overlooking a valley. Displayed behind cream fabric matting and glass in an attractive mahogany-finished frame. Minor paper wavering and uneven mat burn. A few superficial frame scuffs, else very good to near fine. Norwalk, Connecticut framers label verso. Not examined out of frame. Sight size: 15.5" x 11.375", overall frame size: 26.75" x 23.75" x 1".


The North American Indian, originally commissioned and funded by financier J. Pierpont Morgan, was published as a 20-volume work encompassing 1,500 Curtis photographs of various American Indian tribes. Curtis's anthropologist contributors provided analysis and context for his photographs.


Edward Sheriff Curtis is best known as a photographer, but he was also an accomplished ethnologist. His late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century portraits of American Indians, as well as the wax cylinder recordings, early motion pictures, transcriptions, and field notes he collected, documented their lifeways during a time when indigenous peoples were believed to be "vanishing."


Suffolk Engraving Company, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, had a professional association with Curtis. The company was active in the early 1900s.

WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!