Prints

Preserving an American legacy, one print at a time

From moving portraits to stunning landscapes, Mountain Hawk offers the most sought-after Edward S. Curtis images portraying 19th-century Indian life of the southwest, plains and Northwest tribal nations. Our limited edition of 250 images photogravures for the first time, faithfully completes the set of 500 that Curtis originally intended in his epic work The North American Indian.

We create the highest quality collectible photogravures, goldtones and contemporary archival prints, offered at prices that make these enduring images more accessible. With each print, we produce a Certificate of Authenticity, hand embossed with the Mountain Hawk Master Printer’s Mark — your assurance of source, process and quality.

A portion of the proceeds from Mountain Hawk print sales goes to support American Indian scholarships and support Native American culture.

Goldtones

Mountain Hawk goldtones are printed on glass, employing the same complex, sophisticated technique Curtis used for his famous ‘Curt-tones.

Cañon De Chelly

As with our photogravures, each goldtone is created from an ultra high-resolution piece of film of an original Curtis photograph. The image is fused to the back of the glass using a custom photographic emulsion containing precious metals and other naturally occurring elements.

The Storm

Goldtones have an authentic vintage look with rich luminosity, warmth and depth.

Shop Goldtones

Platinum Tones

We also offer platinumtone prints, made the same way as our goldtones, but with a different photographic emulsion that gives them their own unique tonality.

The Oath

They have the same wonderful luminosity and depth as the goldtones, but with a more classic black and white photographic appearance.

Watching the Dancers

Omitting the gold particles, while including platinum, nickel and silver “with a little copper”, gives the platinum tones a slightly warmer tone than traditional black and white silver prints.

Shop Platinumtones

Photogravures

Mountain Hawk is the only master printing studio today making intaglio copper plate photogravures of original Edward Curtis photographs — in the same manner that Curtis, along with John Andrews, his master plate and print maker, used 100 years ago. This intricate, painstaking and time-consuming method produces images with rich tones, and a sense of light, dimension, and realism.

The Vanishing Race

Original Curtis photogravures are photographed with large high-resolution film to produce an image that is chemically etched onto a copper plate. Ink is applied to the plate, and each print hand-pressed onto the highest quality paper. The plate leaves an embossed mark on the paper, called a “strike mark,” a hallmark of an authentic photogravure.

On the Little Big Horn

Original text and fonts, including title, credits and plate number are placed precisely in the border of each photogravure just as Curtis did. Mountain Hawk photogravures have the highest archival rating.

Shop Photogravures

Contemporary Acrhival Prints

Pigmented Ink Prints

These archival prints are made using a digital technique in which a high-resolution image is printed on cotton paper. These fine are pigmented ink prints closely resemble the painterly look and feel of original Edward Curtis photogravures.

Shop Pigmented Prints