Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) Photogravure of Red Cloud Ogalala Printed by John Andrews & Son.

Item#12447

17 1/2"wide by 22" high
Full page Image 15 1/2" high by 11 3/4" wide

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) Photogravure of Red Cloud Ogalala the Teton Sioux Sioux Chief of the No. American Plains Indians who resided west of the Missouri River.

Printed on tweed weave paper as part of American Indian Portfolio Volume #3 page 187 Produced in Boston by John Anderson & Son in 1905.

The portrait of Red Cloud bears an artistic and emotional sensitivity that stands out from other portraits of the great Oglala statesman and warrior.

Curtis traveled the United States photographing and recording native Americans at ceremonial occasions and at work. Curtis was sponsored by Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan. He made orotone photographs with golden overtones created on glass and powered with gold dust and banana oil.

This is a photogravure of an original photograph made in the 1960’s. A photogravure is a photographic image produced from an engraving plate. The process is rarely used today due to the costs involved, but it produces prints which have the subtlety of a photograph and the art quality of a lithograph. In essence, the production of a photogravure consists of three steps: taking the picture; producing a printing plate of the image; and printing the image on paper. The basic process, also called photogravure, was developed in the 1850s. After taking a picture, a glass transparency is made from the negative. Next, a copper engraving plate is dusted with grains of bitumen and heated so that the bitumen becomes attached to the plate. A carbon print which has been exposed beneath the transparency is then transferred to the plate. The plate is then bathed in warm water which causes the unexposed gelatin of the carbon print to be washed away, leaving the image in relief. Ferric chloride is then applied to the plate and eats into the copper in proportion to the highlights and shadows of the gelatin relief. The result is an etched copper plate of the original photographic image.

Pristine condition.

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