Edward S. Curtis Lot (1911/1914). Very Fine-. Window Cards (2) (14" X 22 & 13.75" X 21.25").. ... (Total: 2 Items)

Description

Edward S. Curtis Lot (1911/1914). Very Fine-. Window Cards (2) (14" X 22 & 13.75" X 21.25").
Famed photographer Edward S. Curtis dedicated thirty years of his life to the study and recording of northern Native American tribes and their history, taking tens of thousands of images and wax cylinder recordings along with notes from his field work to produce the 20-volume publication The North American Indian. Curtis received the funding for his work's first five years from J. Piermont Morgan and, after the legendary banker's death, from J.P. Morgan, Jr. and Curtis' own ventures. As the Morgan estate discontinued their funding, Curtis turned to entertainment media of the day to advertise his work to potential investors and the public. This began with a traveling magic lantern slide show titled "A Vanishing Race - An Indian Picture Opera," which was accompanied by orchestration of Native American tribal music by Henry E. Gilbert and Curtis' own narration. After this show gained critical favor and saw modest commercial success, he then aimed to produce a feature film on the history of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples of west coastal Canada. This project became the semi-fictional spectacle In the Land of the Head Hunters (World Film, 1914), which was the first feature-length film to star an entirely Native American cast, preceding the oft-discussed docudrama Nanook of the North by nearly a decade. Declining public interest in Native American culture around the onset of World War I led to the film being a commercial disappointment, and Curtis struggled financially through the last 15 years of his project, eventually selling off the copyright to much of his work to accrue funding for more field work. Heritage proudly offers for the first time the window cards for "A Vanishing Race" and In the Land of the Head Hunters, both of which have only appeared at auction a few times and present Curtis' important ethnographic and creative works with bright color and clean overall appearances. The window cards may have light edge wear, small tears or chips, mild creases, thin scuffs or scratches, and/or faint stains or smudges.


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