Edward Sheriff Curtis
The Apache Reaper
1906
1 / 1
Edward S. Curtis is best known for his monumental project to document disappearing North American Indian tribes in the early twentieth century. Working alone or with various assistants, and with support from prominent individuals such as President Theodore Roosevelt and financier and banker John Pierpont Morgan, Curtis visited more than eighty tribes across the United States and Canada in order to record, through photography, sound recordings, and written accounts, the customs and traditions of Native Americans. "The North American Indian," published between 1907 and 1930, consists of twenty volumes of explanatory text with photographic illustrations and an additional twenty portfolios of larger, individual photogravure plates that complement the text volumes. Curtis’s complicated project illustrates, among other things, the conflicted nature of photography—part science, part art—in the first decades of the twentieth century: he employed photography to record and reveal information, yet many of his photographs are deeply influenced by aesthetic conventions borrowed from traditions of painting. Although he set out with ethnographic ambitions, the works he created are mediated though nostalgia for a preindustrial, Arcadian existence. "The Apache Reaper," a large portfolio plate, shows a man leaning forward in the act of cutting a field of wheat; the gradual blurring, subtle tonal contrasts, and artful lighting that highlight the figure against the dark hills and the setting sun monumentalize and idealize the anonymous figure in a way that recalls nineteenth-century painted depictions of rural peasant life. [Exhibition brochure text, 2010]
-
Artist
Edward Sheriff Curtis
(American, 1868–1952)
- Title The Apache Reaper
- Date 1906
- Medium Photogravure on vellum
-
Dimensions
image | 11 7/16 x 15 3/4 in.
sheet | 13 1/2 x 17 1/8 in.
matted | 22 x 28 in.
- Credit line Gift of Stephen Bunyard and Cheryl Griffin, 1987
- Object number WU 1987.9.2
-
Technique
photogravure
black-and-white photography
-
Work type
photograph
Focus on Photography: Recent Acquisitions
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/07/2010 - 07/26/2010
Travel and Tourism in American Culture
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/01/2005 - 10/21/2005
Teaching Gallery exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/17/2003 - 03/27/2003
The American West: Selections from the Washington University Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/03/2002 - 04/14/2002
1987
P. Stephen and Cheryl Griffin Bunyard
This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.
Related Works
go to Modern House at Tejon, plate 514 from The North American Indian page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Modern House at Tejon, plate 514 from The North American Indian
1924
go to Digueño House at Santa Ysabel, plate 531 from The North American Indian page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Digueño House at Santa Ysabel, plate 531 from The North American Indian
1924
go to An Isleta Man, plate 549 from The North American Indian page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
An Isleta Man, plate 549 from The North American Indian
1925
go to Tablita Dancers and Singers – San Idelfonso, plate 588 from The North American Indian page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Tablita Dancers and Singers – San Idelfonso, plate 588 from The North American Indian
1905
go to Washing Wheat–San Juan, plate 594 from The North American Indian page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Washing Wheat–San Juan, plate 594 from The North American Indian
1905
go to Caire, Grande Pyramide de Chéops (Cairo, Great Pyramid of Cheops [Khufu], Giza) page
Maison Bonfils
Caire, Grande Pyramide de Chéops (Cairo, Great Pyramid of Cheops [Khufu], Giza)
1867–c. 1890s
go to Fountain of Achmed III, Constantinople, Turkey page
Maison Bonfils
Fountain of Achmed III, Constantinople, Turkey
1867–c. 1890s
go to Introduction, from the portfolio Color Nature Landscapes I page
D. E. P. Editions, Inc.
Introduction, from the portfolio Color Nature Landscapes I
1983
go to Mississippi River Near Prairie Du Chien, from the portfolio Color Nature Landscapes I page
William Garnett
Mississippi River Near Prairie Du Chien, from the portfolio Color Nature Landscapes I
1968
go to Venice, California, from the portfolio Women are Better than Men. Not Only have they Survived, they do Prevail. page
Garry Winogrand
Venice, California, from the portfolio Women are Better than Men. Not Only have they Survived, they do Prevail.
1979
go to Nude on Grass, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson page
Ralph Gibson
Nude on Grass, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson
1970
go to Woman's Hand on Shoulder—Brassiere, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson page
Ralph Gibson
Woman's Hand on Shoulder—Brassiere, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson
1975
go to Woman with Mask, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson page
Ralph Gibson
Woman with Mask, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson
1972
go to Woman's Truncated Profile, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson page
Ralph Gibson
Woman's Truncated Profile, from the portfolio If and (Silk): Fifteen Photographs by Ralph Gibson
1975
go to Packs Wolf as Numak-mahana—Mandan page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Packs Wolf as Numak-mahana—Mandan
1908
go to Ground Plan of Arikara Medicine-lodge page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Ground Plan of Arikara Medicine-lodge
1909
go to Contents of Arikara Tribal Medicine Bundle page
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Contents of Arikara Tribal Medicine Bundle
1908
go to Arikara Medicine Ceremony—Night Men Dancing page
