The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 21, 2025

Plate 639: Oksoyapiw-Blackfoot

1926

Edward S. Curtis

(American, 1868–1952)
America
glass interpositive plate
Overall: 43.2 x 35.6 cm (17 x 14 in.)
Gift of Dr. Terence and Joyce Isakov 2022.294
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This portrait shows Okwoyapiw whose name in English translated to “Raw-eater Old-man.”

Description

Born around 1850, Okwoyapiw was around 76 years old when Curtis photographed him. A member of the Blackfeet Nation, he was one of Curtis’s principal sources for information about that tribe’s culture and customs. The national is one of the ten largest tribes in the United States. Today, many of its members live on a reservation in northwest Montana that was established by treaty in 1855.
  • ?-2022
    Dr. Terence D. Isakov and Joyce Isakov, Moreland Hills, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 5, 2022-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Plate 639: Oksoyapiw-Blackfoot|url=false|author=Edward S. Curtis|year=1926|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2022.294