The Vanishing Race 11" x 14" Orotone on Glass Plate in Batwing Frame, 1904, by Edward S. Curtis....

Description

The Vanishing Race 11" x 14" Orotone on Glass Plate in Batwing Frame, 1904, by Edward S. Curtis. 11" x 14" Orotone (goldtone) on glass plate of The Vanishing Race, (1:P1) 1904, in original gilt gesso 15-½" x 18-½" batwing frame by Edward S. Curtis, with copyright signature in the negative, Curtis Studio paper label on the frame, Edward S. Curtis Studio, Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles. Format comprising less than ¼ to ½ of one percent of Curtis' output and Curtis most favored format among 50,000 negatives printed. Reproduced in The North American Indian (1907-1930), Portfolio 1, Plate 1; Native Nations, Bulfinch Press publisher, 1993, Page 123; Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian, Simon & Schuster publisher, 2000, Page 188; Edward S. Curtis: The Great Warriors, Bulfinch Press publisher, 2004, Page 7; The North American Indian Republication Custom Edition, Christopher Cardozo Fine Art, 2014, Portfolio Volume 1, Plate 1; Edward S. Curtis One Hundred Masterworks, Delmonico Books/Prestel Publishing, 2015, Page 91, 166; and The North American Indian Republication Reference Edition, Christopher Cardozo Fine Art, 2017, Portfolio Volume 1, Plate 1. Fine-, with split to the upper left and lower right corners of the frame, and cracking to gilt.

The Vanishing Race was Curtis' signature work and a visual metaphor for the spiritual underpinning of Curtis' lifework, The North American Indian, and became the avatar for the actual vanishing of the people he memorialized.

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