Curtis, Edward S. "Lone Chief - Oto" Pl. 676

Plate 676.  “Lone Chief – Oto.” 

New York, 1927. Ca. 14 x 17 1/4 (platemarks) plus full margins. Van Gelder paper. Photogravure in sepia. Excellent condition.

A classic photographic print from Curtis' The North American Indian . . . edited by Frederick Webb Hodge with a foreword by Theodore Roosevelt. From 1898 to 1900 Curtis had been using photography to record Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. Encouraged by railroad magnate Edward Harriman, naturalist John Muir and Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan financed an expanded project that resulted in the production of 40,000 photographs. A complete set of the portfolio eventually had 2,234 photogravures; however, only 272 of the proposed 500 sets were issued. Most sets were issued on the Holland paper, but a small number were printed on vellum. Using masterful photography, Curtis was able to record that last truly itinerant tribe of Indians in North America.