Edward S. Curtis, Canyon de Chelly - Navajo, 1904
Edward S. Curtis
1868 - 1952
Canyon de Chelly - Navajo, 1904
orotone (vintage goldtone on glass)
signed in the negative lower left: Curtis / ©
facsimile Studio legend label on frame verso
set in an original Curtis Studios batwing frame
negative date: 1904
print date: ca. 1904
Edward S. Curtis’s Canyon de Chelly, taken in 1904, is among his most celebrated landscape images, presenting a group of Navajo riders moving through the massive sandstone walls of Canyon de Chelly, a sacred location in the heart of Navajo country in Arizona. Rather than treating the canyon simply as scenery, Curtis used the small scale of the figures against the towering cliffs to emphasize the profound relationship between people and place. The image combines documentary observation with the atmospheric, carefully composed qualities of Pictorialism and has become one of the defining photographs associated with The North American Indian. Curtis produced the image using several photographic processes, exploring the tonal richness of a composition that continues to resonate with viewers. This example is bright and luminous, which is a unique quality of the goldtone process.
11 x 14 in. (27.9 x 35.6 cm.), frame: 16 x 19 x 1 1/2 in. (40.6 x 48.3 x 3.8 cm.)
Private Collection, Illinois
Literature:
The North American Indian (1907-1930), Portfolio 1, pl. 28
Florence Curtis Graybill and Victor Boesen, Visions of A Vanishing Race (Boston, 1976), pl. 2
Barbara A. Davis, Edward S. Curtis: The Life and Times of a Shadow Catcher (San Francisco, 1985), p. 244
Native Nations, Bulfinch Press, 1993, p. 30
Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian, Simon & Schuster, 2000, frontispiece, 189
Timothy Egan, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis (Boston, 2012), p. 158
Edward S. Curtis One Hundred Masterworks, Delmonico Books/Prestel Publishing, 2015, p. 53, back cover
A hallmark of his studio, Curtis pioneered and popularized the rarely used goldtone process shortly after 1900, producing fewer than one print for every 500 negatives due to the costly and challenging nature of the process. Despite its rarity, it seems to have been his favorite medium, writing in his studio’s Goldtone Promotional Brochure:
“The ordinary photographic print, however good, lacks depth and transparency, or more strictly speaking, translucency. We all know how beautiful are the stones and pebbles in the limpid brook of the forest where the water absorbs the blue of the sky and the green of the foliage, yet when we take the same iridescent pebbles from the water and dry them they are dull and lifeless, so it is with the orthodox photographic print, but in the [goldtone] all the transparency is retained and they are as full of life and sparkle as an opal.”
Condition
A condition report for this lot is available upon request (please include the lot number in your request) and is provided by Santa Fe Art Auction as a courtesy and convenience for potential buyers.
Edward S. Curtis
1868 - 1952
Canyon de Chelly - Navajo, 1904
orotone (vintage goldtone on glass)
signed in the negative lower left: Curtis / ©
facsimile Studio legend label on frame verso
set in an original Curtis Studios batwing frame
negative date: 1904
print date: ca. 1904
Edward S. Curtis’s Canyon de Chelly, taken in 1904, is among his most celebrated landscape images, presenting a group of Navajo riders moving through the massive sandstone walls of Canyon de Chelly, a sacred location in the heart of Navajo country in Arizona. Rather than treating the canyon simply as scenery, Curtis used the small scale of the figures against the towering cliffs to emphasize the profound relationship between people and place. The image combines documentary observation with the atmospheric, carefully composed qualities of Pictorialism and has become one of the defining photographs associated with The North American Indian. Curtis produced the image using several photographic processes, exploring the tonal richness of a composition that continues to resonate with viewers. This example is bright and luminous, which is a unique quality of the goldtone process.
11 x 14 in. (27.9 x 35.6 cm.), frame: 16 x 19 x 1 1/2 in. (40.6 x 48.3 x 3.8 cm.)
Private Collection, Illinois
Literature:
The North American Indian (1907-1930), Portfolio 1, pl. 28
Florence Curtis Graybill and Victor Boesen, Visions of A Vanishing Race (Boston, 1976), pl. 2
Barbara A. Davis, Edward S. Curtis: The Life and Times of a Shadow Catcher (San Francisco, 1985), p. 244
Native Nations, Bulfinch Press, 1993, p. 30
Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian, Simon & Schuster, 2000, frontispiece, 189
Timothy Egan, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis (Boston, 2012), p. 158
Edward S. Curtis One Hundred Masterworks, Delmonico Books/Prestel Publishing, 2015, p. 53, back cover
A hallmark of his studio, Curtis pioneered and popularized the rarely used goldtone process shortly after 1900, producing fewer than one print for every 500 negatives due to the costly and challenging nature of the process. Despite its rarity, it seems to have been his favorite medium, writing in his studio’s Goldtone Promotional Brochure:
“The ordinary photographic print, however good, lacks depth and transparency, or more strictly speaking, translucency. We all know how beautiful are the stones and pebbles in the limpid brook of the forest where the water absorbs the blue of the sky and the green of the foliage, yet when we take the same iridescent pebbles from the water and dry them they are dull and lifeless, so it is with the orthodox photographic print, but in the [goldtone] all the transparency is retained and they are as full of life and sparkle as an opal.”
Condition
A condition report for this lot is available upon request (please include the lot number in your request) and is provided by Santa Fe Art Auction as a courtesy and convenience for potential buyers.
