Lot 1737
  • 1737

EDWARD SHERIFF CURTIS. THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN: A PAIR OF PHOTOGRAVURES. BULL CHIEF & FISH SHOWS

Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • The North American Indian: A Pair of Photogravures
Two photogravures after Edward Curtis, printed by the Suffolk Engraving Company, [Boston]: [1907-1930].  lot includes: Bull Chief - Apsaroke. [Pl. 128] — Fish Shows - Apsaroke. [Pl. 135] each sheet approximately 457 by 559 mm 18 by 22 in

Condition

Each in very good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

Breath-taking images from The North American Indian, the grandest illustrated work ever produced in the United States, the most important illustrated work on Native Americans, and the single greatest book in Western Americana. Only the double-elephant folio edition of Audubon's Birds of America surpasses Curtis in its massive ambition and beauty of execution. "...Because of the singular combination of qualities with which he has been blessed, and because of his extraordinary success in making and using his opportunities... (Curtis) has been able to do what no other man has ever done; what, as far as we can see, no other man could do. He is an artist who works out of doors and not in a closet. He is a close observer, whose qualities of mind and body fit him to make his observations out in the field, surrounded by the wild life he commemorates. He has lived on intimate terms with many different tribes of the mountains and the plains. He knows them as they hunt, as they travel, as they go about their various avocations on the march and in camp. He knows their medicine men and their sorcerers, their chiefs and warriors, their young men and maidens. He has not only seen their vigorous outward existence, but has caught glimpses, such as few white men ever catch, into that strange spiritual and mental life of theirs; from whose inner most recesses all white men are forever barred...." (Theodore Roosevelt, Foreword to Volume I)