The Vanishing Race
Artist
Edward Sheriff Curtis
(American, 1868-1952)
CultureAmerican
Date1904
MediumPlatinum print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 15 1/4 × 20 1/2 in. (38.7 × 52.1 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 28 in. (50.8 × 71.1 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 × 28 in. (50.8 × 71.1 cm)
SignedLower right corner: "Curtis"
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2015.4
Not on view
DescriptionThis large platinum print photograph is affixed to a board. A blind stamp on the bottom left reads: “COPYRIGHTED 1904, BY E. S. CURTIS”. Below the stamp the registration numbers 378-04 appear. They were included in the negative and not on the surface of the print. A signature, “Curtis”, also written on the negative appears on the lower right corner.Label TextEdward S. Curtis American, 1868–1952 The Vanishing Race, 1904 Platinum print (photograph) By the time Edward Curtis made this picture, Native Americans had endured decades of forced assimilation and relocation to reservations. Curtis believed his photographs served to document the traditions of the so-called “vanishing race,” but his images show no evidence of the conflicts that threatened Native American customs or the ongoing efforts to sustain them. Instead, soft edges and muted tones make the image seem dreamlike, as if the Native Americans riding away from the camera were already relegated to the past. Museum purchase 2015.4 ProvenanceCollection of William (Bill) J. Breidinger, inherited from his grandfather in1972. To Swann Auction Galleries; purchased from Swann Galleries by Chrysler Museum of Art, May 21, 2015, at "Images & Objects: Fine & Vernacular Photographs" sale.Exhibition History"New Light on Land: Photographs from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, January 28 - May 15, 2016. "Photographs Take Time: Pictures from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, April 6 - August 26, 2018.Published ReferencesSwann Auction Galleries, "Images & Objects: Fine & Vernacular Photographs, May 21, 2015" (New York: Swann Auction Galleries, 2015) cat. no. 38.
