Portfolio IV, Plate 147: Apsaroke War Group

Curtis employed photogravure, an intaglio printing method that transfers photographic images onto copper plates for inked reproduction. This technique produced subtle gradations of sepia tones and fine detail, distinguishing his work from standard photographic prints of the era. The grainy, muted surface enhances the sense of antiquity, aligning the image’s material form with its subject matter’s perceived historical weight.

The photograph was produced as part of Curtis’s The North American Indian, a project funded privately and published between 1907 and 1930. Plate 147 was included in Portfolio IV, released in 1905. The Cleveland Museum of Art acquired the print as part of its broader collection of early 20th-century photographic works, preserving it as both an artistic and anthropological artifact.

Curtis worked during a period of intense cultural disruption for Native nations, as federal policies sought assimilation and displacement. His project, though criticized later for romanticism and staging, was among the first large-scale efforts to systematically photograph Indigenous peoples. The Apsáalooke, known for their equestrian traditions and warrior societies, were among the groups he documented extensively in the Northern Plains.

While Curtis’s work has been reevaluated for its colonial framing and staged compositions, the photogravures remain significant for their technical ambition and visual density. Plate 147 continues to be studied for its representation of Apsáalooke identity, serving as both a historical record and a point of dialogue about representation, agency, and the ethics of ethnographic photography.