Artist: Edward S. Curtis
Title: Dusty Dress - Kalispel
Medium: Photogravure, Japanese Vellum
Portfolio VII, Plate 238
Paper Size: 22" x 18" (55.8cm x 45.7cm)
Image Size: 15.5" x 11" (39.3cm x 28cm)

The gallery retail for this photograph is $5,000
Auction Estimate: $3,000 - $4,000

This elegantly dressed young Kalispel woman is garbed in a cape ornamented with cowrie shells and ribbon edging. The braids of her waist length hair are wound with strips of otter fur, and an ermine pelt dangles from each braid. The bands of white on her hair are effected with white clay or gypsum. She is also wearing beautiful abalone disc earrings and a dentalium multi-strand shell choker. She has a necklace of pony beads with leather disk and ermine. She holds a large feather in her right hand. A beautiful portrait, rich in detail.

This vintage photogravure is in excellent condition. Excellent, rich impression, and a fine example of the photogravure process.

This original vintage photogravure is printed on Japanese Vellum. This is an expensive handmade paper specifically selected by Curtis and J.P. Morgan for Curtis’ North American Indian project and noted for its smooth surface and fine resolution. The Vellum stock, produced one hundred years ago, is very resistant to contamination and damage and rarely requires conservation.

Edward Curtis is the most widely collected fine art photography in the history of the medium, and his work is found in major public and private collections internationally. He has also become the most widely exhibited. His work has moved viewers on every continent but Antarctica. He created an unprecedented body of work, which has won awards and accolades internationally. While the project nearly drove him into bankruptcy and cost him his health and family, today the aggregate value of the photographs he created exceeds one half of a billion dollars. Please see biography link above for further details.