Lot 49: Attributed to Asahel Curtis, Untitled (Mt.Rainier from Mirror Lakes)

Asahel Curtis was born in 1874 in Minnesota. He is the brother of Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868–1952), a photographer and ethnologist. When Edward and Asahel were teenagers they had a homemade camera. In 1885 at the age of seventeen Edward took his interest in photography and became an apprentice photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota. When the Curtis family moved to Washington state in 1888, Edward and Asahel were just teenagers. As their careers grew, their choice of subjects became increasingly different. Edward spent 33 years documenting the traditional life of the Native American Indians. Asahel photographed Washington's natural resources and related industries, as well as the early cities of Washington state, historic events, and its population. Asahel's brother, Edward Sheriff Curtis, supported the family by opening a photography studio in Seattle, and Asahel went to work for him in 1894. In 1897, the brothers agreed that Asahel should go to the Yukon and document the Klondike Gold Rush. Asahel remained there for two years, alternately taking pictures and working a small and largely unproductive claim. Asahel launched his photography career with that two year trip to Alaska and the Klondike. After working together for a few years, Edward and Asahel parted ways forever after a bitter disagreement over the rights to Asahel's Yukon photos, which Edward had published under his own name. From then on, the brothers traveled separate paths. Asahel established his own studio in Seattle and employed a team of developers and colorists, including his sister Eva. He was hired by a number of local companies, organizations, and wealthy individuals to take portraits and promotional photos. He became more widely known for his images of the Washington landscape that were published nationwide. The Asahel Curtis Photo Company Photographs in the collection of the University of Washington Libraries Digital Collection of 1,677 items provides one of the most valuable photographic records of Seattle, the state of Washington, Alaska, and the Klondike, covering a period from the 1850s until 1940. Curtis appreciated the beauty and uniqueness of Mt. Rainier so much that for several decades he directed his appreciation for scenic beauty and his efforts at regional boosterism and combined them into the development of Mt. Rainier National Park. Curtis was a founding member of the Mountaineers, a mountain-climbing group which also promoted the preservation of wilderness areas. Curtis was active in the affairs of the club for the first several years after its founding in 1906. He led the Mountaineers on climbs up Mt. Rainier and organized a committee within the club to deal with the Mt. Rainier National Park. Curtis's advocacy was not limited to the development of Mt. Rainier National Park. While serving as the official photographer for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, he also chaired its Development Committee and its Highway Committee for years. His interests reached beyond the Puget Sound region. Curtis owned a small orchard in Ellensburg, and he believed that the productivity of Central Washington could be improved by building irrigation projects to turn the arid region into cropland. The Washington Irrigation Association thus chose Curtis to be its president in the 1920s. He also participated in the affairs of the Washington State Good Roads Association, serving as its president in 1932 and 1933. Curtis worked in his Seattle studio until his death in 1941. Sixty thousand of his images are held in trust by the Washington State Historical Society in Tacoma.

8.75" x 10.75"

hand-tinted photograph

ca. 1920

Photograph is in excellent condition, vintage frame has damage in the upper right hand corner.

4M