HUFFMAN “CAPTURED THE SPIRIT OF THE AMERICAN WEST PERHAPS BETTER THAN ANY OTHER ARTIST”: SCARCE LARGE VINTAGE HUFFMAN COLLOTYPE OF CROW CHIEFS PHOTOGRAPHED BY HIM IN WASHINGTON, 1880
(INDIAN) HUFFMAN, L.A. Photograph. Crow Treaty Commission. [Washington, D.C.]: Huffman Milestown, 1879. Vintage collotype (measures 11-1/2 by 16 inches).
Scarce vintage 1880 collotype of renowned western photographer L.A. Huffman’s handsome portrait of a delegation of prominent Crow chiefs, photographed by him during treaty negotiations in Washington, with his trademark “Huffman Milestown” signed in print at lower corner.
Famed 19th-century photographer Laton Alton Huffman “made one of the most extensive and best-known 19th-century photographic records of the Cheyenne, Sioux, Crow and other Northern Plains tribes” (Sturtevant, North American Indian XI:27). Huffman, whose mentor was renowned western photographer Frank Jay Haynes, “captured the spirit of the American West perhaps better than any other artist… One of Huffman’s greatest documentary contributions was photographing many of the great warriors” of Native American people, including many who became lifelong friends. To noted historian J. Frank Dobie, Huffman “has an enduring place alongside William H. Jackson as a pioneer photographer.” Huffman’s images were a major influence on “generations of painters who either directly copied his images or used then as compositional aids to complete their own work. Giants of western art such as Frederic Remington, Charlie Russell and Edward Borein collected Huffman photographs” (Peterson, xi, 67, 81-83).
This very scarce large vintage Huffman collotype is from his photograph of a delegation of Crow chiefs, along with Indian Agent Keller and interpreters, taken in Washington D.C. in 1880. The splendid portrait speaks both to the dignity of the Crow leaders and to Huffman’s skill. Pictured are six Crow chiefs, Old Crow, Medicine Crow, Two Belly, Long Elk, Plenty Coups and Pretty Eagle, along with M. Quivey, Indian Agent Keller and Tom Stewart. In March 1880, in response to demands from white Montanans and railroads for a reduction in the Crow domain, this delegation was brought “to Washington D.C. to speak directly with the president.” According to Plenty Coups’ memoir, he was the first member of the delegation to be selected, and asked Two Belly, the senior River Crow chief, to accompany him. Agent R.A. Keller then chose Pretty Eagle, Medicine Crow, Long Elk and Old Crow. On arriving in Washington, the Crow delegation “showed remarkable spunk. It resisted pressure from the president and the secretary of the interior… In June 1880, the group agreed to a provisional treaty (in part because the Crows believed they would be held as hostages in Washington until they did so).” While the final agreement led to a substantial loss of land, it also “demonstrated that skillful leaders could calibrate their accommodation to American power, appearing friendly while resisting the white man’s delays” (Hoxie, Parading Through History, 118-119). With “Huffman Milestown” signed in print at lower right corner; printed “Treaty Com.” at left corner mis-dated 1879. Containing printed names of all pictured at lower edge of print, with “Plenticus” corrected to “Plenty Coups” in an unidentified hand.
Only tiny closed tear at upper margin not affecting image. A fine print.