Jun 11, 2020 - Sale 2536

Sale 2536 - Lot 296

Price Realized: $ 1,125
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,400 - $ 1,800
(NATIVE AMERICANS--TAYLOR AND WILLIS)
A suite of approximately 65 real photo postcards depicting Southwestern tribes.


Most of the photographs in this set are credited to J.R. Willis (1876-1960, Gallup, New Mexico) or G.S. Taylor (Bylas, Arizona) and include imagery of Hopi, Zuni, and Navajo peoples, among others. Includes numerous portraits of male and female figures; ceremonial scenes and gatherings; some artistic or ritualistic activities such as sand painting, silversmithing, or basket weaving; and some architectural scenery; with 33 by Williams, 16 by Taylor, and a further 16 without any credit. Silver prints on carte-postale paper, the images measuring 5 1/8x3 1/8 inches (13x7.9 cm.), and the reverse, the sheets slightly larger, each of the Willis cards with his credit and a caption in the negative, and a total of 49 with one of the photographer's stamps on verso. 1920s

Additional Details

J.R. Willis was a painter and photographer of Southwestern landscapes and Native Americans. He set up a photography studio in a former theater in Gallup, New Mexico, later moving to Albuquerque. Willis was known for his realistic landscape and portraits of Native Americans, as well as his photographs of the same subject matter, which were made into view-master reels and photo postcards.