Dick Talley Book

Edward S. CurtisMEDICINE CROW

MASTER GOLDTONE PRINTING NEGATIVE

MEDICINE CROW

Medicine Crow is a classic Northern Plains male portrait. Medicine Crow was an Apsaroke warrior, born 1848 from Montana. Curtis was particularly fond of the Apsaroke people as their culture was still largely intact and they were fierce warriors and a proud people.

The hawk fastened to Medicine Crow’s head is illustrative of the manner of wearing the symbol of one’s tutelary spirit. The Apsaroke believed that all success in life was attributed to one’s spirit guard-ian and that it inhabited only the soul of a worthy person. The large areas of light tonality make this a particularly beautiful Goldtone.

EDWARD S. CURTISMaster Goldtone Printing Negative

IMAGE:Medicine Crow - Apsaroke, 1908

17” x 14”, Contemporary Original Goldtone™

Gelatin Silver emulsion on glass, Gold-hued bronze powder backing.

“The passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other... Consequently the information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of future generations, respecting the mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once, or the opportunity will be lost for all time. ”

—Edward S. Curtis

Medicine Crow - Apsaroke, 1908

Original 6 1/2” x 8 1/2” in-camera glass-plate negative

Medicine Crow - Apsaroke, 1908

Film positive from original 6 1/2” x 8 1/2” in-camera glass-plate negative.

Contemporary Platinum Palladium Contact Print from Original 6 1/2” x 8 1/2” in-camera glass-plate negative.

Hand-coated platinum and palladium emulsion on natural Arches Platine archival paper.

12” x 16” Contemporary Platinum Palladium Presentation Print from original Master Goldtone Printing Negative.

Hand-coated platinum and palladium emulsion on natural Arches Platine archival paper.

Contemporary Gelatin Silver Contact Print from original 6 1/2” x 8 1/2” in-camera glass-plate negative.

Hand-coated gelatin and silver emulsion on Ilford Multigrade Fiber-based warmtone photographic paper.

9” x 12” Contemporary Silver Gelatin Presentation Print from original Master Goldtone Printing Negative.

Hand-coated gelatin and silver emulsion onIlford Multigrade Fiber-based warmtone photographic paper.

Contemporary Cyanotype Contact Print from original 6 1/2” x 8 1/2” in-camera glass-plate negative.

Hand-coated cyanotype emulsion on Revere Platinum archival paper, 100% cotton

THE APSAROKE

In stature and in vigor the Apsaroke, or Crows, excelled all other tribes of the Rocky Mountain region, and were surpassed by none in bravery and in devotion to the supernatural forces that gave them strength against their enemies. Social laws, rigidly adhered to, pre-vented marriage of those even distantly related, and the hardships of their life as hunters eliminated infant weaklings. The rigors of this life made the woman as strong as the men.

The country which the Apsaroke ranged and claimed as their own was an extensive one for so small a tribe. In area it may be com-pared, east and west, to the distance from Boston to Buffalo, and north to south , from Montreal to Washington--certainly a vast re-gion to be dominated by a tribe never numbering more than fifteen hundred warriors.

—Excerpt from The North American Indian

LEFT IMAGE:Medicine Crow - Apsaroke, 1908Vintage Photogravure, Plate 117

RIGHT IMAGE:Apsaroke War Chief, 1908

Vintage Photogravure, Plate 112

Vintage “Curtis Indians” Marketing Booklet

WHAT IS A MASTER GOLDTONE PRINTING NEGATIVE?

Edward Curtis was a master of the photographic medium. For many, he is most revered for his beautiful goldtone photo-graphs. These photographs are printed on glass and backed with a gold liquid wash. They possess a brilliance, hue and a three-dimensionality that is unique in the photographic me-dium. It is an expensive and time-consuming process and it is estimated that fewer than 1 in 500,000 vintage fine art photo-graphs were ever made in this medium.

Curtis created specific negatives to use in making his gold-tones. They can be identified as such by the ink signature in-corporated into the negative itself. (Negatives that Curtis used for creating other types of prints had no signature in the neg-ative, as the print itself would be signed.)

Curtis wrote eloquently about his love of the goldtone (“oro-tone” or “Curt-tone”) process and their extraordinary lumi-nosity and three-dimensionality. Fewer than 1 in 800 of Curtis’ negatives were actually chosen to be used in creating gold-tones, thus adding to their rarity and desirability. Curtis is rec-ognized as both the pioneer and the master of the goldtone printing process, and there is nothing in the one hundred and seventy-year history of the photographic medium that com-pares to Curtis’ body of work in the goldtone process. Thus, the Goldtone Master Printing Negatives are exceedingly im-portant not only in the overall history of Curtis’s body of work, but also in the 170-year history of the photographic medium.

CURTIS’ PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES

Curtis employed an unusually wide variety of photographic process-es. The vast majority of his photographs were printed as photogra-vures and virtually all Curtis’ photogravures were produced for his magnum opus The North American Indian. Curtis’ photogravures are typically of two sizes: approximately 5” x 7” or approximately 12” x 16”. They were printed on one of three hand-made papers: Japanese Vellum, Dutch “Van Gelder,” or Japanese “tissue”. Curtis also created a significant body of platinum prints (comprising one-forth to one-half of one percent of his extant body of work) which vary in size from approximately 4” x 5” to 24” x 32”, and possibly larger. Curtis platinums larger than 12” x 16” are scarce. Varying paper weights and surfaces were employed.

Curtis also created a wide variety of silver prints. The most frequent-ly encountered are called goldtones (or “orotones” or “Curt-Tones”) which, like platinum prints, also comprise approximately one-fourth to one-half of one percent of Curtis’ extant work. Curtis’ goldtones range from 4” x 5” to 18” x 22”. Based on current data, goldtones used a gelatin silver emulsion, which was suspended on glass (vs. paper) and after development were backed with gold-hued bronz-ing powders. Goldtones are virtually always framed in one of several original frames, most typically in a “bat-wing” style with gesso and compo over wood. Curtis also created gelatin silver paper-based prints for sale and/or exhibition and these are virtually always sepia toned and are rarer than platinum prints or orotones. There is also a small body of warm-toned gelatin silver prints, which incorporate a barely discernable screen pattern. Curtis also created untoned, gelatin silver “reference prints” which generally have a semi-gloss or glossy surface and are typically approximately 6” x 8” image size on slightly larger, single-weight paper.

Producer of sensitized glass-plates, used by Curtis.This label was used to back an original Curtis goldtone.

CURTIS’ PHOTOGRAPHIC PROCESSES

Gold-toned printing-out paper prints are collodian-silver prints, on single-weight paper. They are a printing-out process and gold-toned. They are extremely rare and were produced principally in 1899 and 1900. They are marked by their fine grain structure, sharp resolution and russety sepia tone. Of the few examples that exist, the majority are approximately 12” x 16”.

Curtis also created a large body of cyanotypes (blue-hued, print-ing-out process prints). These were made in the field contemporane-ously with the creation of negatives and, presumably, virtually all of his 40,000-plus negatives were initially printed as cyanotypes; how-ever, few of these survive. Additionally, Curtis created an extreme-ly small body of hand-colored gelatin silver and platinum photo-graphs using watercolor and oils, as well as experimental prints that appear to employ a gum process and/or ink. A small body of Curtis’ lantern slides still exist, some hand-colored. Lastly, Curtis created blue-toned gelatin silver prints (Aphrodite series, Hollywood stills, etc.); these should not be confused with his cyanotypes.

Letter from President Theodore Roosevelt to Edward Curtis,Used by Curtis to promote and solicit support for The North American Indian

Reproduction courtesy of Christopher Cardozo, Inc.

Original Curtis Copyright Application

“Patrons’ Form of Subscription” for The North American Indian

Title Page from The North American Indian, Volume I

BEAUTY, HEART & SPIRITThe Sacred Legacy®

Over one hundred years ago, the American photographer Edward S. Curtis set out on a monumental quest to make an unprecedented, com-prehensive record of the North American Indian. During a thirty-year period he produced 40,000-50,000 photographs of Native peoples from over eighty different tribal groups. Curtis’ mission was to safeguard and preserve their ‘sacred legacy’ by creating a lasting record of their lives in photographs, film, sound, and text. This was a highly collaborative process and the Native people were active co-creators in preserving this record for future generations. It is estimated that over 10,000 Native people actively and generously contributed their time, experience and knowledge toward the creation of this Sacred Legacy®. Curtis was a wit-ness and messenger as much as a co-creator. Today this work stands as a landmark in the history of photography, book publishing, ethnography, and the American West.

Viewed in its entirety, Curtis’ work presents an historical record of enor-mous importance. Edward S. Curtis and his Native co-creators not only preserved for future generations a crucial part of American history, but also provided a powerful opportunity to understand many aspects of the American Indian experience. Perhaps the most important legacy of Cur-tis’ monumental accomplishment is the expression of an extraordinary and deeply felt empathy and understanding of the personal, emotional, and spiritual lives of the American Indian. The work’s core message is one of beauty, heart, and spirit. In these respects, this collaborative body of work is unique and unparalleled.

Reproduction courtesy of Christopher Cardozo, Inc.

Subscription Agreement for The North American IndianFebruary 10, 1909

Original Copyright notice used by Edward S. Curtis

Vintage Curtis Studio Sticker,Applied to backing of his original Goldtones

EDWARD S. CURTIS

“It’s such a big dream, I can’t see it all.” –Edward Curtis

Edward Curtis was born in 1868 and grew up in abject poverty in rural Minnesota. He built his first camera at age twelve and thus unwittingly embarked on his lifelong photographic career. In 1887, Curtis moved to the Pacific Northwest where he quickly positioned himself as Seattle’s foremost studio photographer. This success gave him the freedom to pursue his love of the great outdoors and this activity brought him into contact with small groups of Native Americans who were still living somewhat traditional lives.

These experiences led Curtis to begin, by 1900, an undertaking that would consume him for the next thirty years. This project was the creation of his magnum opus, The North American Indian, a twenty volume, twenty-portfolio set of handmade books. Each Set contains over 2,200 original photographs, plus extensive text, and transcriptions of language and music. It is difficult to overestimate the enormity of Curtis’s task. The project involved over one hun-dred artisans, translators, sales staff, logistical support, field assis-tants, accountants, etc. In today’s dollars it was an approximately $35,000,000 publishing project, unparalleled in American publish-ing history.

While The North American Indian is an inestimable contribution to the worlds of art, photography, ethnography, and fine bookmak-ing, the project nearly killed Curtis. He lost his family, his money, and his health. By 1930 he was a broken man. While he lived out the rest of his life in obscurity, he left us with a sacred legacy that may endure for many centuries to come.

Edward S. Curtis, Self-Portrait, 1899

Master Goldtone Printing Negative Package