Artist: Edward S. Curtis
Title: "Sunflower (Girl and Jar) - San Ildefonso"
Negative Date: 1905
Print Date: 2008
Photographic Medium: Goldtone™
Image Size: 22" x 18"(55.8cm x 45.7cm)
Framed Size: 27" x 23"(68.5cm x 58.4cm)
Choice of contemporary or classic frame included.

The gallery retail for this photograph is $5,000
Auction Estimate: $4,000 - $4,500

Edition: 13/25

Sunflower (Girl and Jar) - San Ildefonso, 1905
This young girl, also known as Sunflower and Povi-Tamu is from the San Ildefonso pueblo in Northern New Mexico. She was one of Curtis’ favorite subjects and appears in an unprecedented four different photographs in Curtis’ magnum opus The North American Indian. Pueblo woman were very adept at balancing objects on their heads, and a vessel, such as this pot, usually rested on a fiber ring that served to both steady the pot and to protect the scalp. The design on the pot pictured here recalls the importance of the serpent cult in Tewa life. This image was not originally offered as a goldtone and was available only as a photogravure and a handful of examples in platinum. Because of its compelling beauty and added warmth and richness as a goldtone, Curtis Centennial Edition chose to create this image in the Goldtone process.

This Centennial Edition™ was created using a proprietary process invented by Cardozo Fine Art in 1998. The goldtone process is an extremely rare form of photographic printing and our Goldtones™ are created in strictly limited editions. Centennial Edition Goldtones™ are created exclusively from Curtis' original glass plate negatives and therefore are contemporary original prints, not reproductions. Goldtones™ are printed directly on a high quality optical glass which is coated with a rich, unique, and custom formulated emulsion. The exposed sensitized glass plates are processed with traditional photographic chemistry and then toned twice for superb archival permanence and a warm sepia tonality. Each Goldtone™ is then backed with multiple microfine layers of brilliant golden metallic particles and finally treated with an inert archival sealant. Goldtones™ have a luminosity and three-dimensionality that is unequaled by any other photographic medium. The complexity and expense of producing goldtones in Curtis’ day meant that he printed only about 1 in 1,000 of his negatives as goldtones. Each contemporary, limited edition Goldtone™ and frame are the result of over sixty separate, distinct steps. The frame, which is a beautiful handcrafted recreation of Curtis' vintage frames, is custom made of wood and various traditional materials. We are pleased to offer this unique American treasure to a new audience of discerning collectors.

Goldtone, or Orotone, was a process of producing photographic images on glass, with a gold metallic backing, and was pioneered by Edward S. Curtis 100 years ago. It was his most favored way of producing his photographic images. These limited edition Goldtones™, by Curtis Centennial Editions, are objects of extraordinary beauty and rarity. They have a luminosity that is unequaled by any other photographic art form. Cardozo Fine Art is proud to present an historic limited edition printing of Contemporary Master Goldtones™ of Edward S. Curtis' most beautiful and evocative images of North American Indians. The images chosen for the Contemporary Master Goldtones™ are a selection of the most moving images that Curtis created in his 30-year study of North American Indians and each finished, framed and numbered Goldtone™ is the result of over sixty separate and distinct steps.