The Frederick Monsen ethnographic Indian photographs

              THE FREDERICK MONSEN ETHNOGRAPHIC INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHS
EXHIBITED AT
UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM
WASHINGTON, D. C.

AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
NEW YORK CITY

Explorers' Club
345 Amsterdam Avenue
New York City



THE FREDERICK MONSEN ETHNOGRAPHIC INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHS
WITH the passing of the American Indian from his natural condition to a state of semi-civilization, there has awakened an intelligent interest in all that pertains to his primitive condition, origin and mode of life, before these were affected by the influence of a dominant race.  It will not be long before all the tribal communities, hereditary manners, and ceremonies will cease to exist.  Mr. Monsen first went among the Indians in the capacity of artist.  His intelligent observation was immediately impressed with the scientific value of a pictorial record of this people.  Realizing the futility of attempting to accomplish the result by the slow method of the brush, he commenced, many years ago, the creation of his collection of photographs, which is today the most complete ethnographic series of pictures of the life and manners of the Indians inhabiting the southwestern United States.  At the present he has over three thousand subjects, recording the types, arts, industries, habitat and ceremonies of twenty tribes.  Mr. Monsen has lived for long periods among his subjects and first became familiar with them at a time when they were free from apparent traces of civilizing influence.  He is therefore able, with his knowledge of the aboriginal condition of the tribes, to supplement and add to his collection by obtaining additional studies before it is too late.  He proposes to have an expedition in the field the coming summer to complete his work among the Navajos, Apaches, Hopis, Colorado Apaches and the Rio Grande Pueblos.





FREDERICK MONSEN IN THE NAVAJO COUNTRY




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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

NAVAJO ARIZONA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

ISLETA NEW MEXICO



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

LAGUNA NEW MEXICO



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

HOPI ARIZONA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

YUMA CALIFORNIA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

NAVAJO NEW MEXICO



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

ZUÑI NEW MEXICO



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

MOJAVE CALIFORNIA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

DIEGUEÑOS CALIFORNIA



Copyright by Frederick Monsen
HOPI ARIZONA




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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

ACOMA NEW MEXICO



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

HOPI ARIZONA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

HOPI ARIZONA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

HOPI ARIZONA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

ZUÑI NEW MEXICO



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

HOPI ARIZONA



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Copyright by Frederick Monsen

TAOS NEW MEXICO




From Washington (D. C.) Star
FREDERICK MONSEN'S WORK
Life Among the Desert Tribes of Aborigines.  SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PICTURES Historic and Ethnological Records—Rare Artistic Quality.

AN exhibition of enlarged photographs of Indians of the southwestern portion of the United States, their arts, ceremonies and habitat, the work of Frederick Monsen, F.R.G.S., of New York City, formerly of the geological survey, is in progress at the Cosmos Club.  The exhibition was opened yesterday and will continue daily until March 20, from 10 o'clock A. M. until 4 o'clock P. M., except Sundays.  Admission is by card only.

For the past eighteen years Mr. Monsen has spent the major part of his time living as close to the Indians as a white man comfortably may, throughout the length and breadth of that land of enchantment—the great southwest.  There, in their primitive and remote villages, he has resided and worked, gaining by sympathetic understanding and never-ending confidence and good will of the Indians, and so gaining command of material for his work that could never be acquired at a price.  This access to the intimate life of the people, combined with his own skill and artistic judgment, has given Mr. Monsen a collection of pictures not only of great artistic value, but of absolutely unrivaled significance as historic and ethnological records.



NATIVE OF NORWAY.
Frederick Monsen came to this country from his native Norway about twenty-five years ago, a youth equipped with little except a good education, augmented by technical artistic training and an inheritance of like temperament from a notably artistic family.  Newspaper work carried him westward within
 a year or two, and it was in Colorado that he began the work which has since developed into a recognized art—of which he is not only the originator, but the ablest exponent—the art of portraying by means of the camera the beauty of a little known part of the United States and the individuality of a picturesque and fast vanishing race.  He began photographing Indians while connected with the geological survey, and the fascination of the work, together with the great possibilities of its future value, both to art and to history, have held him to it since.

It is the rare artistic quality in Mr. Monsen's work which serves to interest laymen and connoisseur alike, and it is evident that only the sense of fellowship which Mr. Monsen has established with the Indians can account for the almost entire absence in his pictures of one objectionable feature so marked in most Indian photographs—that of a display of self-consciousness on the part of the subject.  It is true, of course, that many of Mr. Monsen's pictures are snaps, but even those that are obviously posed are still sympathetic and characterful in striking contrast with the elaborately picturesque photographs so frequently seen.



PICTURESQUE AND PRIMITIVE.
While the Desert Indians, by long odds the most picturesque and primitive of the remaining aborigines, would be sufficient in themselves to furnish material for a lifetime of endeavor, it is not only among the people that Mr. Monsen has found his work.  He has not neglected to any degree the strange and beautiful physical features of the country they live in, and these form some of his most fascinating subjects.  He has evidently gone deeply into the chemistry of light and color, as well as photography, and has used all his technical training, as well as new methods of his own, to express in his own chosen medium the wondrous color, space and atmosphere of the desert land.

Mr. Monsen smilingly denies the charge that he is a man with a mission, but says he does his work because of the pleasure he finds in achieving the expression of the beautiful.  Naturally, however, he has come to take a deep interest in the welfare
 of the Indians among whom he has lived so long.  Naturally, also, he has acquired a broad and comprehensive knowledge of conditions among them, and also some strong ideas as to the right care of them.  He has seen how civilization has encroached upon them, year by year, and has been a close observer of its effects.



DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT CRAFTS.
Of all the ideas he advances as the result of his long experience with Indian capabilities and characteristics, none is more interesting than the position he takes with regard to the destruction of the ancient crafts and the attempt to replace them by modern commercial work that, he believes, is practically valueless as well as hideous and commonplace.  Mr. Monsen holds that if the government would send to the Indians instructors who would exercise some intelligence in reviving and preserving the wonderful old handicrafts of the peaceful tribes, instead of giving the children instruction in the trades and industries of the white man, the Indian would not only take more kindly to the white man's idea of education, but it would be a great deal easier for him to earn a living.  More than that, Mr. Monsen believes that in the preservation of the Indian crafts, as well as Indian traditions, games, ethics, morals and religion, there lies a strong influence for good that would ultimately affect modern art and life.

When I first wandered into the desert eighteen years ago, Mr. Monsen said to a Star reporter, it was still a land undiscovered by all save an occasional prospector or a stray cowboy.  I went there as a member of the geological survey, but the fascination of the desert and its people laid hold of me, and I soon realized that for me at least no other lifework could possess a tithe of the interest that would come from being able to depict truthfully the life, character and customs of the desert Indians, and to give the world some idea of the charm to be found in them and in the strange splendor of their environment.



REMNANT OF FAST-VANISHING RACE.
These Pueblo Indians are now but the remnant
 of a fast-vanishing race, one of the many magnificent aboriginal races that have decayed so swiftly under the death-giving touch of the white man's civilization.  That the peaceful desert tribes have hitherto been able to preserve so much of their original vigor and individuality has been due to the fact that the Indian is dominated in such a marked degree by his environment, and also that these Indians live a life as natural and primitive as that of their forefathers before the advent of the white man—that is, they have lived so, but the chances now are that the paternal care of the government will educate and civilize them to a swift and final doom.  For these reasons it seemed to me that any trustful record of the lives and customs of the people of the pueblos, made while they were yet unspoiled, would have an ethnological and historical value even greater than the quality of picturesqueness that is now coming to be of such keen interest to artists.  The only way to gain the true impression that alone would be of value, instead of merely gathering a collection of unusual and attractive pictures, was to become intimate with the people, to understand them and be understood by them; to gain their friendship and so coax them, by imperceptible degrees, to forget to be watchful and conscious in the presence of a stranger and to live and pursue their daily occupations as if no camera or sketch block had ever been brought within the borders of the great desert.

That my own experience of Indian life might be as broad as possible, I drifted from one village to another, always accepting their customs, eating their food, interesting myself in what interested them.  And, while associating myself as much as possible with their daily life, I carefully avoided making any attempt to become identified with any of the peculiar ceremonial clans.  I have seen the sacred and secret ceremonies, of course, but the opportunity to do so was merely a courtesy extended to me by the high priests, who have told me that no white man has ever been admitted as a member of such an organization.



DIPLOMACY AND CAREFUL ARRANGEMENT.
When I first began working among the Indians, eighteen years ago, it required much diplomacy and
 careful arrangement to secure at all the sort of pictures I wanted.  Almost any Indian or group of Indians would have posed for me for a consideration, but a posed, self-conscious picture was of little use to me, as the unconscious expression of daily life and character was what I had set my heart on obtaining.  Naturally, in those days, all the pictures I took had to be posed and focused, as there was nothing to use but the tripod camera, the slow lens, and the heavy glass plates.  When films were invented, I was, I believe, one of the first to use them in a professional way, and, although they were then by no means so reliable as they are now, they proved so indispensable to the kind of work I was doing that I persisted in experimenting with them in spite of the fact that I failed repeatedly in my attempts to secure satisfactory results.  In this way I gained my first actual experience and best practice in the instantaneous photographing of Indians, and when films were finally brought to such a degree of perfection that I could feel entirely secure in taking them out on long, difficult and expensive journeys, I began to get results such as I had never been able to achieve by the old method of using plates.

A photographer who uses the large camera and plates the full size of the finished picture can seldom get either atmosphere, perspective or the freedom from consciousness that is so desirable when photographing Indians, that is, if one wishes for genuine individuality and convincing local color instead of more or less conventional or dramatic picturesqueness.



CHARMING, UNCONSCIOUS GROUPS.
By the use of the small cartridge films and the rapid action of the hand camera one is able to snapshot any number of charming, unconscious groups that show just what the Indian is like in his daily life at home.  My own method of working is to carry two small Kodaks which fit in cases without covers that are slung to a belt around my waist and are concealed under my loose coat.  One turn of my hand and the camera is out and ready for use.  Long practice in focusing has made it possible for me to do it almost by instinct, as a rifleman will hit the
 target when firing from the hip or at arm's length almost as often as when the weapon is sighted, and my subjects seldom know when they are photographed.

In addition to this convenience for working, which puts the hand camera almost on the level of a fountain pen carried for hasty notes, there are two other reasons why the small hand camera and cartridge films are so desirable for the desert photographer.  The first is purely practical—it reduced the weight of one's equipment for a reasonably long journey about 90 per cent., a matter worth considering when one travels in a rough and little-known country.  The second concerns the artistic quality of the large, finished picture.  I have found that a direct print made from a large negative taken in the burning sunlight of Arizona or New Mexico is apt to be so sharp that it looks flat and hard, and seems to possess but little atmosphere or artistic feeling.  By enlarging the picture from a small negative I not only obtain a sense of perspective that gives some idea of the vast distances, but find myself able to produce a picture that, by its softness of outline and the effect of mellow, diffused light and deep, velvety shadows, conveys the feeling of all the sunshine and color that go to make up the characteristic atmosphere of the desert.



GENTLE FOLK OF THE DESERT.
My acquaintance with the desert Indians includes all the desert people—the Hopi, Navajos, Apaches, the Mojaves, the Rio Grande Indians and others.  They are all interesting, and all have distinctly individual characteristics, but the gentle folks of the desert are the quiet, industrious Hopi.

The meaning of the word 'hopi' is 'gentle,' and it is a true word.  Only to be among these Indians, to hear them talk and to observe their treatment of one another and of the casual stranger who is within their gates, is to have forced upon one the realization that here is the unspoiled remnant of a great race—a race of men who have from time immemorial lived quiet, sane, wholesome lives, very close to nature.




The New York Evening Post
CAMERA WORK AT SALMAGUNDI
Free Exhibit of Frederick Monsen's Indian Photographs.

THAT highly artistic work can be produced with the camera is proved by the exhibition now being held at the Salmagundi Club, on West Twelfth street, of Frederick Monsen's enlarged photographs of the Indians of Southwestern United States.  Mr. Monsen shows the daily life of these Indians, their homes, and the scenery that surrounds them, and in showing all this he exhibits the artist that is in him.  There is a photograph of an Indian girl dipping water from a pool with a gourd into a Navajo earthenware bowl, in which the grace of the pose is so natural that the picture was evidently taken from an unsuspecting model.

One would be inclined to believe that this was an accidental example, so good is that which, in a drawing, painting, or piece of sculpture, would be called the modelling, and so excellently have the light and shade been used, were it not that Mr. Monsen shows equally good work in a flock of sheep, which even Mauve himself might have acknowledged; in a most un-Dutch-like but striking bit of scenery; an Indian woman in the Navajo reservation in Arizona starting a campfire for the night, which has the feeling of a Millet, and children—notably one on a ladder clutching an ear of corn—so naive that they, too, must have been caught unawares.

In scenery Mr. Monsen is also successful, and his cloud studies, taken as they were with a small Kodak, are quite remarkable.





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BYRON P. STEVENSON, Art Critic, New York Evening Post.
Your exhibition was a revelation to me.  I did not think it possible to put so much art in photography.  I can't understand how you succeeded in getting such immensely artistic effects with a Kodak, when the camera people are doing so much more talking and producing so much less.


THE CRAFTSMAN MAGAZINE, New York City.
Late in November Mr. Frederick Monsen held an exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, New York, of his enlarged photographs of the Indians of Southwestern United States, among whom he has lived for many years.  The photographs were not only beautiful, but widely interesting, showing the Indians in their daily

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 life and busied with many of their arts and ceremonies, and in their homes.  Mr. Monsen also lectured about the Indians as he knows them, and spoke with rare sympathetic insight about the customs, life and work of these people, whose history he is holding for posterity in his vast collection of photographs which are greater in number and importance than any other record of this group of native Americans.



ART REVIEW, NEW YORK.
Access to the intimate life of the people, combined with his own skill and artistic judgment, has given Mr. Monsen a collection of pictures not only of great artistic value, but of absolutely unrivaled significance as historical and ethnological records.


All of Mr. Monsen's negatives are made with a Kodak, on Kodak Film, and developed in the Kodak Film Tank.

EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY
ROCHESTER, N. Y.
The Kodak City