Portfolio I, Plate 16: Eskadi-Apache

Curtis employed photogravure, a labor-intensive printing process that allowed for rich tonal gradations. He used controlled natural light to sculpt the face with chiaroscuro, emphasizing the texture of skin, fabric, and hair. The plain background eliminates distraction, directing attention to the subject’s presence. The technique mirrors 19th-century portrait traditions but adapts them to documentary aims, blending artistry with ethnographic intent.

Created as Plate 16 in Curtis’s Portfolio I, this image was printed in a limited run of 250 sets between 1903 and 1907. The Cleveland Museum of Art acquired it as part of a larger donation of Curtis materials in the mid-20th century. Its preservation reflects institutional interest in early photographic ethnography, though its historical framing has since been critically reevaluated by scholars and Indigenous communities.

Curtis worked during a time when U.S. government policies were displacing Native communities and suppressing cultural practices. His project, funded privately, aimed to document Indigenous peoples before they were assumed to disappear. While his images are valued for their technical quality, they also reflect the paternalistic assumptions of the era, often omitting contemporary realities and presenting subjects as timeless relics.

Curtis’s portfolio remains a significant, if problematic, archive in the history of American photography. Scholars now examine these images alongside Indigenous voices and oral histories to understand both their aesthetic power and their role in shaping public perceptions. The Cleveland Museum of Art presents the work with contextual framing, acknowledging its dual status as historical document and cultural artifact.