Pawnee Portrait by William Henry Jackson
An original CDV photograph portrait of a Pawnee man, of Indian Territory. The young Skeedee Pawnee man, who is bare-chested, stares intently at the viewer. He is seated with a blanket or shawl wrapped around his arms. A tomahawk rests over his arms.
This photograph is attributed to the great photographer of the American West, William Henry Jackson, who is best remembered for his photographs made during the 1871 Hayden Survey, which explored the region of northwestern Wyoming that later became Yellowstone National Park. The present portrait was made by Jackson in the late 1870s, and is can be found in his Descriptive catalogue of photographs of North American Indians, U.S.G.S.,1877. Our CDV example was produced slightly later, likely around 1880.
According to the American Antiquarian Society, which owns a print of this identical present image, the Pawnee man in the photograph was an "assistant carpenter at the agency."
Rarity
Original CDV photographs of Native Americans by Jackson are quite rare in the market.