id:			325464
accession number:	2019.27
share license status:	Copyrighted
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.27
updated:		2025-02-09 07:49:32.900000

The Vanishing Race, 1904. Edward S. Curtis (American, 1868–1952). Orotone in original Curtis Studio frame; image: 27.8 x 35.5 cm (10 15/16 x 14 in.); paper: 27.8 x 35.5 cm (10 15/16 x 14 in.); framed: 40 x 47.5 cm (15 3/4 x 18 11/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Diann G. Mann and Thomas A. Mann 2019.27

title:				The Vanishing Race
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1904
creation date earliest:		1904
creation date latest:		1904
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of Diann G. Mann and Thomas A. Mann
copyright:			

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culture:	America
technique:	orotone in original Curtis Studio frame
department:	Photography
collection:	PH - American 1900-1950
type:		Photograph
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Edward S. Curtis (American, 1868–1952)  - artist
Edward S. Curtis American, 1868 - 1952

Edward Sheriff Curtis, born near White Water, Wisconsin, was a well-established commercial photographer before he undertook his best known work shortly before the turn of the century. Working first as photographer for the Edward H. Harriman expedition in Alaska (1899), he later secured the endorsement of Theodore Roosevelt and the support of J. P. Morgan for an extensive anthropological and photographic study of Native Americans. Curtis's work from 1906 -- 20 resulted in The North American Indian and eventually generated 40,000 negatives, of which 1,200 were presented in gravure form in the 20 volumes and 20 accompanying portfolios of his study.
	Although his intentions were anthropological and scholarl -- to preserve the appearance and customs of a dying race -- Curtis nevertheless was affected by the artistic styles of his time. His portraits and tableaux were often strongly pictorialist, as their presentation on imported papers and in rarefied media such as orotone would suggest. His scientific aims were frequently undercut by a personal interpretation of his subjects, to whom he often supplied costumes and props. Time has proved Curtis, in this era of his career, equally an artist and an anthropologist. His later work in Los Angeles, which deserves further study, focused on Hollywood and the world of movies. T.W.F.
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measurements: Image: 27.8 x 35.5 cm (10 15/16 x 14 in.); Paper: 27.8 x 35.5 cm (10 15/16 x 14 in.); Framed: 40 x 47.5 cm (15 3/4 x 18 11/16 in.)
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edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

	inscription:	Written in gold in lower right on recto: “Curtis”
	translation:	
	remark:		

	inscription:	Imprinted in type on adhesive label removed from verso of backing board: “Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art/Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4001/Return postage guaranteed/32. Edward Curtis (1868-1952) American/The Vanishing Race, Navajo, 1904/orotone/18 x 22”/An American Portrait: Photographs from the/Collectionof Diann and Thomas Mann/April 1-June 12, 1994”
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	remark:		

	inscription:	Various paper fragments from backing board have been removed or fallen off and retained
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	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	Daniel Wolf, Inc., New York, NY
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Thomas A. and Diann G. Mann, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
	date: 1983-2019
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: March 4, 2019
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Joseph Epes Brown, <em>The North American Indian</em>, Aperture, New York, 1972,
	page number: 	p. 95
	url:		

	Curtis, Edward S., and Christopher Cardozo. Native Nations: First Americans As Seen by Edward S. Curtis. Boston: Little, Brown, 1993.
	page number: 	p. 123
	url:		

	Curtis, Edward S., and Christopher Cardozo. Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian. New York: Simon &amp; Schuster, 2000.
	page number: 	p. 188
	url:		

	Curtis, Edward S., Frederick Webb Hodge, Theodore Roosevelt, J. Pierpont Morgan, and Christopher Cardozo. The North American Indian: Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska. 2017.
	page number: 	Portfolio I, pl. 1
	url:		

	Christie, Manson &amp; Woods International Inc. An American Journey: The Diann G. and Thomas A. Mann Collection of Photographic Masterworks. 2018.
	page number: 	
	url:		

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IMAGES