Very rare and fascinating "1913 Phototogravure of Native American Indian,  Chief Umapine - created by Rodman Wanamaker." This wonderful Photogravure measures approx. 8-1/8” x 5" (19 cm x 11 cm,)   The photo itself measures 7” x 4-1/4" (18 cm x 11 cm,)

The Chief Umapine poses for the Photogravuer in his ceremonial garb, amazingly adorned with animal pelts, meaningful designs, and multiple bead necklaces.  His headpiece is a cascade of matching feathers going from his head all the way to the ground.  He strikes an impressive pose.

A bit of history: Chief Umapine of the Cayuse tribe lived on the Umatilla Reservation.  Umapine was loyal to the white settlers cause and assisted them in bringing down the Bannock War by capturing and killing their chief.   Long before European contact, the tribes of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and Walla Walla thrived in the Columbia River region. With a history dating back more than 10,000 years, these tribes once boasted a population of approximately 8,000 members. Their territories spanned from the lowlands along the Columbia River to the highlands of the Blue Mountains. As a key tribe in the Plateau Culture area, they led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, proficiently fishing, hunting, and foraging for wild plants.  The 1700s marked a transformation for these tribes with the introduction of the horse. Embracing aspects of Plains Indian culture, they began hunting buffalo and living in teepees. Their adeptness in horsemanship and horse breeding became legendary. 

How does Rodman Wanamaker play into this story.     The purpose of the Wanamaker Expeditions to the West was “not discovery or scientific study," but an attempt to save the Indians from cultural extinction” (P. R. Fleming & J. Luskey: The North American Indians in Early Photographs, p.216).  Wanamaker became prominent by photographing the last great Indian Council in 1909.  Eminent chiefs from nearly every area of the United States, and the surviving warriors and scouts of the Custer battle, met at the Valley of the Little Big Horn.   In 1913, Mountain Chief, a Blackfoot, gave Wanamaker a necklace of buffalo teeth and named him “High Crow”, an honor never bestowed on a white man by this tribe.  In the Resolution passed October 9, 1915 at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, Wanamaker is given credit for laying the foundation for the citizenship of the Indian by his research and philanthropic endeavors.

Wanamaker used the photogravure, which is a is a process for printing photographs (also sometimes used for reproductive intaglio printmaking.) It is a photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is grained (adding a pattern to the plate) and then coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio plate that can reproduce detailed continuous tones of a photograph.  The process was important in 19th-century photography, but by the 20th century with advances in technology, it was almost extinct.

This striking 1913 Photogravure is in excellent condition front and back.   It does have a tiny bit of edge wear on the right-hand side.  The back is clean, and has a number hand-written in the lower right hand corner … possibly an inventory number.

This captivating and quite wonderful, "1913 Phototogravure of Native American Indian,  Chief Umapine - Photo by Rodman Wanamaker" would be  a great addition to any early 20th century photogravure collection!!!

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Be sure to check out this seller's other auctions for a number of other, fantastic and interesting photographs and postcards, which are also being offered for sale this week, and every week on eBay!!!

012026-Ns

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