#295 • Edward S. Curtis "The Fisherman" Reproduction & Historic Tlingit Photographic Prints

Part of November 2026 Fantastic Finds Auction (timed auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $5.00

Status: Available

Bidding closes Nov 15, 2026 5:41 PM AKST

Category: Art

A Nateche Prints reproduction of "The Fisherman" by American photographer and ethnologist Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) joins three historic Tlingit subjects in this group of four photographic prints. Curtis made the original image in 1909, capturing a Wishham fisherman working with a long dip net above the Columbia River. His forward-leaning figure and the long pole lead the eye from the rocky ledge toward the moving water below. A seated portrait is thought to depict Jack Watson, an Ahtna Athabascan man from Copper Center, and Mary James, a Tlingit woman also known as Sheep Creek Mary. A large fringed Chilkat blanket fills the background, while another wraps the woman at right. Its bold curving designs spread across her lap beside a carved staff and a decorated hat placed on the floor. The larger group portrait, by Case and Draper, shows Raven-moiety Tlingit guests from Yakutat at the Sitka potlatch of December 9, 1904. Standing and seated figures wear patterned ceremonial regalia, with hats, necklaces, and long staffs giving the gathering a wealth of detail. Elbridge W. Merrill's 1904 photograph shows three Kaagwaantaan men in fringed Chilkat blankets beneath the Panting Wolf carving at Sitka. The house post rises between two windows of the clapboard building, its deeply carved forms echoed by the bold designs of the men's regalia. The dates identify the historic images; the printing dates of the examples offered here have not been established. "The Fisherman" reproduction measures approximately 20.25" x 17".