Preserving an American Legacy: Images of Native America by Edward S. Curtis

Exhibition Dates: January 9, 2025 – March 23, 2025

Opening: Saturday, January 11 from 5:30pm-7pm, with a special “Fireside Chat” with Mountain Hawk Fine Art founder Paul Unks at 6pm

The prints in this exhibit represent a 30-year journey that began in 1895 to photograph and document a vanishing way of life from one of the great civilizations of man. Using his large-format camera as both a historical documentary tool and as an artist, Edward S. Curtis captured images of over 80 tribes west of the Mississippi to preserve a sacred legacy that otherwise would have been lost. Curtis’ painterly sepia photographs became iconic images of the American West and influenced generations of National Geographic photographers.

Originally envisioned as a 500-edition set, Curtis published only 250 original 20-volume sets of his astonishing work, The North American Indian, printed from the delicate copper plates. Today, only 15 of these sets remain; their plates gradually deteriorated due to years of neglect in a humid, abandoned warehouse in Boston resulting in the loss of their original fine detail.

Mountain Hawk Fine Art discovered one of the original sets of photographs stored in the University of Denver’s vault and protected from deterioration since 1938. Rare and inspiring, these pristine gravures offer the greatest tone and detail available, providing the best source for rendering archival prints of the highest order. Mountain Hawk spent 7 years learning the traditional craft of photogravure plate and print making faithful to the process Curtis used over a century ago. Each print is meticulously handcrafted to match and, in some ways, enhance the magical sense of light and depth of Curtis’ best vintage originals. The limited edition of 250 faithfully completes the set of 500 that Curtis originally intended.

The Commissioners’ Choice program is an artist invitational which provides a unique exhibition opportunity at the Lone Tree Arts Center. Each year, the Lone Tree Arts Commission supports emerging and professional Colorado-based artists by providing a venue to display their work in a public setting. Please see below for more information for this specific show.

The Lone Tree Arts Center is open to the public from 10am-4pm, Monday-Friday, and two hours prior to any scheduled LTAC show.  If you have any questions, please email or call the Box Office at 720-509-1000.