The Standing Rock Portraits: Sioux Photographed by Frank Bennett Fiske 1900-1915

by Murray Lemley

-Powerful photographic portraits of Fort Yates Native Americans in the early years of the 20th century, and an astonishing historical document -Attractively-priced gift book edition Over 100 years ago Frank Bennett Fiske (1883-1952) photographed members of the Standing Rock Native American community at Fort Yates, North Dakota, where he was born. The men and women he portrayed were his friends and neighbors who were living on the reservation. These images, created with a large studio camera on glass negatives, are notable for their depth and clarity. The negatives were recently rediscovered, and have rarely been displayed. Photographer and graphic designer Murray Lemley, also from North Dakota, curated this selection of images to introduce Fiske's work to the wider public. They are published here in an attractively-priced gift edition. "These pictures show a historical and artistic vision of proud people in a difficult transitional period. The glass negatives of Frank Fiske are a sumptuous source of information and understanding." - Rod Slemmons, American photography expert.

Genres: Nonfiction

112 pages, Hardcover

Published December 31, 2019

Reviews

[andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This coffee table type book caught my eye in a library display. I’ll be honest I just skimmed the photographer bio in the beginning in order to get to the portraits and their descriptions. Who wants to read about a racist white guy anyways? But the work he did was important in the end even if his motives were iffy. It was a beautiful look at a vastly under-documented piece of history, and even less represented from what documentation there is. The portraits were in great shape and it was cool to see how specific the descriptions were about the indigenous peoples’ clothes and accessories.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Large format book with nice black and white photos of Native Americans, or "noble savages" as they were unfortunately and inaccurately often described by the Europeans who photographed them. It seems to me that these images alone are powerful enough to disintegrate those untruthful myths about the Native Americans, but perhaps no one was looking at them that closely. We can look now with the help of these photos and remember one of the darkest times in US history.

[bibliotekker Holman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book with brief text and wonderful photographs from the work of an important photographer. I would have liked to have more text and more photographs, but for what is here, it is excellent. Fiske is certainly lesser known than household names of western photography like Edward Curtis and D.F. Barry, but he is just as important.