Portraiture

Artworks focused on depicting individuals, capturing their likeness and essence. This category spans historical portraits that reveal identity, status, and personality through the artist’s lens.

Young Hairy Wolf, Crow portrait photograph, c. 1905

Young Hairy Wolf, Crow (c. 1905 CE)

Documents Edward S. Curtis Ethnographic Photography

Young Hairy Wolf was born around 1849 and died in 1919. He served as a medicine man—a spiritual leader responsible for healing rituals, visions, and traditional medical practices.

Mis-se-pah, Mojave portrait photograph, 1903

Mis Se Pah, Mojave (1903 CE)

Documents Edward S. Curtis Ethnographic Photography

As part of Curtis's ambitious documentation of North American Indigenous peoples, the photograph not only highlights Mis se pah's individual beauty but also serves as a window into the Mohave people's enduring connection to their ancestral lands along the Colorado River.

Ben Long Ear, Crow portrait photograph, 1905

Ben Long Ear, Crow (1905 CE)

Documents Edward S. Curtis Ethnographic Photography

Fragmented records suggest that a man called Ben long ear lived on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana and may have been born in the late nineteenth century.

Yellow Bull, Nez Perce portrait photograph, c. 1905

Yellow Bull, Nez Percé (c. 1905 CE)

Documents Edward S. Curtis Ethnographic Photography

Yellow Bull’s gaze meets the viewer without embellishment, creating an immediate sense of presence. The photograph invites reflection not only on the individual portrayed, but also on the wider historical and cultural world to which he belonged.

White Shield, Arikara portrait photograph, c. 1908

White Shield, Arikara (c. 1908 CE)

Documents Edward S. Curtis Ethnographic Photography

This image of White Shield not only showcases the dignified presence of its subject but also offers a window into the rich cultural heritage of the Arikara people during a time of profound change for Native American communities.

Bronze bust Study of Honoré de Balzac by Auguste Rodin, 1891–1892

Study of Honoré de Balzac (1891–1892 CE)

Antiquities Europe France Sculpture

Created as part of Rodin’s long and controversial engagement with the French novelist Honoré de Balzac, the sculpture captures not a flattering likeness, but an intense search for intellectual presence and creative force.

Self-Portrait by Hilma af Klint, c. 1890

Self Portrait (c.1890 CE)

Art Hilma af Klint Painting

Though created during her conventional, realistic phase, this self portrait feels like a threshold: the last calm moment before she stepped into the unknown.