December 2018 Auction Ends Thursday, December 13th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/13/2018
Two original albumen prints, one of which was taken New Year's Day 1891, immediately after the Wounded Knee Massacre; both images were taken by Northwestern Photo Co. of Chadron, Nebraska, whose outfit is well known for documenting the aftermath of the massacre. The larger of the photos, measuring 7.75'' x 5.75'', is the one depicting the snow-covered battlefield, with blankets covering dead Lakota Native Americans, and with a destroyed wagon in the background. Photo is published in ''Eyewitness at Wounded Knee'', which writes of it, ''The shattered wagon near the center of this view might be the one described by Peter McFarland, a government drayman present at the fight: 'The Hotchkiss guns on the hill fired into an Indian wagon...Several Indians were firing on the soldiers from behind this wagon. The shell sent into it knocked it to pieces and killed a number of warriors.''' Photograph is also controversial in that George Trager, who captured the image, printed his copyright in the negative directly on the bodies of the dead: ''Birds Eeye [sic] View of Battle Field at Wounded Knee S. Da looking North / Copy Righted by the North Western Photo Co. / Chadron, Neb. / No 4''. Very light soiling at top and some buckling, with small spot inherent in negative; very good condition. Photograph is affixed to mat, upon which the other side shows the second photograph, also published in ''Eyewitness at Wounded Knee'', showing the landscape of the Pine Ridge Agency, looking west down its main street. Photograph, likely taken later in 1891 by Clarence Moreledge of Northwestern, measures 7'' x 4''. Abrasion to center and side of photo, foxing at top and some buckling. Overall good condition. Mat, to which photos are affixed, measures 10'' x 7''.
Two Original Photographs From 1891, Just Days After the Wounded Knee Massacre -- One Photograph Depicts the Battlefield With Fallen Lakota & a Destroyed Wagon
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