a life's style: recent aquisition

21 August 2012

recent aquisition

I collect vintage Navajo rugs. I recently saw this photo on eBay and was the winning bidder. It was part of an 1890 photo album that was attributed to photographer Fred Kiser who along with his brother Oscar were two of the most well-known landscape photographers in the United States at the beginning of the 20th century. Their most notable works were of Crater Lake National Park in Oregon.

Here is the seller's description on eBay:

I believe the seller misrepresented the date and possibly the Fred Kiser attribution. In asking him how he came to those conclusions, he was honest in saying he didn't have any proof, just a hunch, and that I should purchase the photo on the merit of it's subject only. Fair enough.

The 1890 date doesn't hold up because Fred Kiser was born in 1878 and Oscar was born in 1883 making them 12 and 7, respectively in 1890 and hardly old enough to go trapsing across the southwest. Also Fred was in college from 1898 to 1901. Their professional photography careers didn't begin until 1902.

In doing some research on this photo I've determined that it is of the Walker Redrock Trading Post booth at the annual Shiprock Fair in Shiprock, New Mexico. The fair began in 1911 and continues today as the Northern Navajo Nation Fair. There are several photos of the 1913 fair that show the Walker Redrock booth but with different rugs displayed. So my conclusion is this photo was taken in one of the two years prior to 1913 or in the years soon after.

I also can't find any reference to Fred Kiser photographing American Indians other than the Blackfoot Tribe in Montana for the Great Northern Railway Company in 1909 and 1910. But that doesn't mean he didn't.

This photo as well as the others that were in the album are remarkable, even if they weren't taken by Fred Kiser in 1890. The photographer had extraordinary access to daily American Indian life.