Lot 39
EDWARD S. CURTIS (1868-1952)
Portfolio 20, The North American Indian. With 35 large-format photogravures of indigenous Alaskans. Photogravures on vellum, the images measuring 11 1/2x15 1/2 inches (29.2x39.4 cm.), and the reverse, the sheets 17 1/4x21 3/4 inches (43.8x55.2 cm.), each with the printed Curtis credit, publisher credit, title, date, and plate number (Nos. 688-722), on recto; with a printed list of the titles. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Suffolk Engraving Co., 1928
Estimate $8,000 - 12,000
Rarely offered for sale, this Curtis portfolio of picturesque scenes and striking portraits of Alaskan Kotzebue and Nunivak was acquired by a Private Collector in 1972. The images depict a critical point in Eskimo (Inuit) culture: Curtis captured native peoples as the population was coming into contact with Canadian and American influences.
Some of these influences, particularly in textiles and clothing, were literally woven into the fabric of the culture (note button ornaments and knitted caps), while more traditional items (seal bladder buoys, seal skin anoraks, and seal skin drums) are still used regularly.
The kayaks and the fishing boats, with their single mast sails, have long since vanished from the landscape along with authentic "stilt houses." Curtis' images capture the last remnants of a first peoples nomadic culture before it incorporated (although some might say was corrupted) by the West, at the very moment these changes began.
Includes: The Drummer--Nunivak * Nunivak Children * Reindeer--Nunivak * Boys in Kaik--Nunivak * Kenouwun--Nunivak Woman and Child--Nunivak * Ready for Sealing--Nunivak * Uyowutcha--Nunivak * Hooper Bay Youth * The Village--Hooper Bay * King Island Village from the Sea * King Island Village * King Island Homes * Qunaninru--King Island * Launching the Boat--Little Diomede Island* Diomede Boat Crew * Old Stone House--Diomede Island * Launching the Whale Boat--Cape Prince of Wales * Cape Prince of Wales Man * Whaling Crew--Cape Prince of Wales * A Kotzebue Man * A Foggy Day--Kotzebue * Starting Up the Noatak River, Kotzebue * Jackson, Interpreter at Kotzebue * The Muskrat-Hunter--Kotzebue * Arriving Home--Noatak * Ola--Noatuk * A Family Group--Noatak * Noatak Kaiaks * Nungoktok--Noatak * Jajuk--Selawik * Charlie Wood--Kobuk * Kobuk Costume.
