Edward S. Curtis "Site of Abandoned Hidatsa Village" Photogravure on Tissue, 1908

Details

Description

An original photogravure from Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian. Site of Abandoned Hidatsa Village looks across an empty … Read more An original photogravure from Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian. Site of Abandoned Hidatsa Village looks across an empty river bench toward a cone-shaped butte under a soft, clouded sky, with tall grass and brush along the bank in the foreground. No lodges remain where the village stood. The Hidatsa lived in earth-lodge villages along the upper Missouri River in present-day North Dakota. Curtis made the photograph in 1908, and it was published in 1909 in Volume 4, which covers the Apsaroke, or Crow, and the Hidatsa.

From Volume 4, facing page 130. Printed on Japanese gampi tissue, one of the three papers used for the original subscriber sets, and still in its original Holland Van Gelder mount. The thin, smooth tissue holds the fine detail of the gravure and gives it a warm tone. Titled in the plate lower left (SITE OF ABANDONED HIDATSA VILLAGE*), with "From Copyright Photograph 1908 by E.S. Curtis" in the plate below the image.

Image: 5 3/8 x 7 1/4 inches. Sheet: 9 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches.

Provenance: the Christopher G. Cardozo Collection. The collection's inventory number and the title are written in pencil on the verso.

A vintage impression from the original publication, not a later restrike. Sold unframed, ready to mat and frame. See less