Photograph on photographer’s mat
8 in high x 6 in wide; 20.32 cm high x 15.24 cm wide
Provenance: Private collection, Upstate New York
This mounted photograph depicts Chief Albert Ely of the Otoe-Missouria, photographed by Drake of Ponca City, Oklahoma. The portrait belongs to the early 20th-century studio tradition in which Native sitters were often photographed in formal dress, with attention to personal presence and cultural identification. The photographer’s mount and studio mark help place the image within the Oklahoma photographic trade of the period.
Chief Albert Ely is shown in a feather headdress and layered adornment, holding a pipe and posed in three-quarter view. The composition is tightly framed, focusing on the sitter’s face, clothing, and ceremonial objects rather than a wider studio setting. As a historical photograph, the work records an identified Otoe-Missouria subject at a moment when portrait photography served both documentary and collecting purposes.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Photograph on photographer’s mat
8 in high x 6 in wide; 20.32 cm high x 15.24 cm wide
Provenance: Private collection, Upstate New York
This mounted photograph depicts Chief Albert Ely of the Otoe-Missouria, photographed by Drake of Ponca City, Oklahoma. The portrait belongs to the early 20th-century studio tradition in which Native sitters were often photographed in formal dress, with attention to personal presence and cultural identification. The photographer’s mount and studio mark help place the image within the Oklahoma photographic trade of the period.
Chief Albert Ely is shown in a feather headdress and layered adornment, holding a pipe and posed in three-quarter view. The composition is tightly framed, focusing on the sitter’s face, clothing, and ceremonial objects rather than a wider studio setting. As a historical photograph, the work records an identified Otoe-Missouria subject at a moment when portrait photography served both documentary and collecting purposes.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
