Pl 108 AMERICAN HORSE SIOUX 1908 Copper Plate

EDWARD S. CURTIS. Plate 108 - American Horse - Ogalala, 1908. 16x11" on 18x12.5" copper plate. Plate date 1908. From Portfolio, 3The Teton Sioux. The Yanktonai. The Assiniboin, of The North American Indian. Engraved on plate recto: American Horse - Sioux / From Copyright Photograph 1908 by E.S. Curtis / Photogravure John Andrew & Son.

This subject is one of the four chiefs whose election is described in Volume III, page 16. He died in December 1908.

A remarkable pictorial portrait of this legendary Sioux Chief. He was a member of the delegation photographed in Lot 4038.

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) created a legacy that was a monumental visual tour de force, an ethnographic, heroic and theatrical record of the American Indian and their recollected and imagined way of life before the white man. Between 1898 and 1928, working in collaboration with many tribal members, Curtis created an ethno-historical account combined with photographic notions of character portraiture, environmental portraiture, and classical romanticism as well as straight documentary views. He published 20 octavo volumes with around 75 prints per volume each accompanied with a larger portfolio of usually 36 hand pulled photogravures. The North America Indian (1906-1928) is considered the most lavish and elegantly illustrated set of photographic books ever produced. This lot has the unique copper plate made for this publication under Curtis' supervision.
Condition Report: Very Good. Minor scratches, tarnish, dents, abrasions, small dark spots, and ink residue throughout plate surface.