Fort Lapwai

Accession Number
1987/1.202

Title
Fort Lapwai

Artist(s)
Edward S. Curtis

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1910

Medium & Support
photogravure on paper

Dimensions
9 3/16 in x 12 in (23.34 cm x 30.48 cm);14 3/8 in x 19 3/8 in (36.51 cm x 49.21 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Douglas M. Kenyon

Subject matter
This photograph depicts Fort Lapwai, "place of the butterflies," built on the Nez Percé reservation in Northern Idaho to prevent white settlers from encroaching on Nez Percé land. This image is from The North American Indian (1907-1930), a twenty-volume series created by Edward Curtis in order to document the lives of Native Americans in diverse regions of the Western United States. This limited edition volume was financially supported by J.P. Morgan, and promoted by Theodore Roosevelt. The resulting works have been criticized and celebrated for their portrayal of Native American life. Curtis often included anachronous props and clothing and presented rituals that had not been performed in years in order to support an idealized and romantic reading of a “vanishing race.” 

Physical Description
A photograph of a landscape. The image plane is divided in half, the lower foreground showing a field of grass, and large, dense trees growing at the horizon line.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
Native American
field
fortresses
forts
grass (plant material)
hedgerow trees
modern and contemporary art
trees

& Author Notes

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