Edward Curtis Collection

"Mosa Mojave" and "Quilcene Boy" by Edward Curtis

Vintage photogravure, 1900, H x W, antique frame 

"Three proud old leaders of their people. A picture of the primal upland prairies with their waving grass and limpid streams. A glimpse of the life and conditions which are on the verge of extinction." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1904, H x W, Unframed

"The thought which this picture is meant to convey is that the Indians as a race, already shorn of their tribal strength and stripped of their primitive dress, are passing into the darkness of an unknown future. Feeling that the picture expresses so much of the thought that inspired the entire work, the author has chosen it as the first of the series." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1907, H x W, Unframed

"This portrait of the historical old Apache was made in March, 1905.According to Geronimo's calculation he was at the time seventy-six years of age, thus making the year of his birth 1829. The picture was taken at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the day before the inauguration of President Roosevelt, geronimo being one of the warriors who took part in the inaugural parade at Washington. he appreciated the honor of being one of those chosen for this occasion, and the catching of his features while the old warrior was in a retrospective mood was most fortunate." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1906, H x W, Unframed

"A scene in the high mountains of Apache-land just before the breaking of a rainstorm." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1904, H x W, Unframed

"This picture (shows) exceedingly well the typical Jicarilla's woman's dress: a cape of deerskin, beaded, a broad belt of black leather, a deerskin skirt, and the hair fastened on each side of the head with a large knot of yarn or cloth."  [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1904, H x W, Unframed

"This "Canon of the Dead" is a branch of The Canon de Chelly, deriving its name from having been the scene of a massacre of a band of Navaho by a troop of Mexican soldiers." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1904, H x W, Unframed

"In the early morning this boy, as if springing from the earth itself, came to the author's desert camp. Indeed, he seemed a part of the very desert. His eyes bespeak all of the curiosity, all the wonder of his primitive mind striving to grasp the meaning of the strange things about him."
[Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1904, H x W, Unframed

"The baskets made by the Pima, Papago, and Qahatika, as well as by their Maricopa neighbors, are practically identical in formand design, but the Mariciopa basketry is of somewhat superior workmanship. The four-armed cross, a form of the swastika, appears as a central feature in the decoration of a majority of the Piman and Maricopa baskets of today and while the true signification here is not known with certainty, it is not impossible that it was designed orginally to represent the winds of the four cardinal directions. Less than a generation ago the swastiska was employed by the Pima to decorate their shields, and as a brand for their horses." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1907, H x W, Unframed

"The Papago [branch of the Pima] certainly proved tractable enough, under the efforts of the Franciscans, to build one of the most beautiful mission churches of the United States, and while all similar edifices of the region have fallen into decay, they have kept this wonderful old structure at San Xavier del Bac in a good state of preservation." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1907, H x W, Unframed

"In appearance and habits the Qahatika are almost identical with their immediate congeners the Pima and the Papago. Many years ago, they say, the Pima were living in Akichinh, near the Picacho, when a large party of Apache made war on them and drove them away. The greater part went to the Gila and established the settlement at Sacaton; others, the ancestors of the Qahatika, went into the desert and made their homes there." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1903, H x W, Unframed

"It would be difficult to conceive of a more thorough aboriginal than this Mohave girl. Her eyes are those of the fawn of the forest, questioning the strange things of civilization upon which it gazes for the first time. She is such a type as Father Garces may have viewed on his journey through the Mohave country in 1776." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1905, H x W, Unframed

"This picture was made in the heart of the Bad Lands of South Dakota. The subject is the sub-chief Red Hawk, a sketch of whose life is given on page 188 of Volume III."
[Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1905, H x W, Unframed

Re-strike photogravure, 1907, H x W, Unframed

Re-strike photogravure, 1905, H x W, Unframed

Re-strike photogravure, 1904, H x W, Unframed

"This striking picture was made at Sheep Mountain in the Bad Lands of Pine Ridge reservation, South Dakota." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1905, H x W, Unframed

Re-strike photogravure, 1900, H x W, Unframed

"Three proud old leaders of their people. A picture of the primal upland prairies with their waving grass and limpid streams. A glimpse of the life and conditions which are on the verge of extinction." [Ref.: "The North American Indian"] 

Re-strike photogravure, 1912, H x W, Unframed

Re-strike photogravure, 1905, H x W, Unframed

Re-strike photogravure, 1905, H x W, Unframed