This photographic art print is printed on acid-free paper that will last a hundred years, and is matted in neutral colors chosen to compliment the print, yet match any decor.

Each art print is backed with cardboard, ready to frame, and is enclosed in a plastic bag for protection.

This art print measures approximately 8x10 inches, including the mat. The mat pictured is representative, the one you receive may vary. If you are ordering more than one print, we will try to match mat colors when available.



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This item can be shipped internationally, but additional postage may apply.

This art print is made from an historical photo identified only as "Decendant of Alex McKay," taken by photographer Major Leander Moorhouse. The date taken is unknown.

Alex McKay was one of the original founders of the Pacific Fur Company with John Astor. They established Fort Astoria and traded furs with the natives on Vancouver Island.

Thomas Leander Moorhouse or "Lee" Moorhouse (1850-1926), of Pendleton, Oregon, was a multifaceted and intriguing man. Born in Marion County, Iowa, he came with his family to Walla Walla, Washington, in 1861 on the Oregon Trail. He was a miner, surveyor, rancher, businessman, civic leader, Umatilla Indian Agent, real estate operator, insurance salesman, and Assistant Adjunct General of the Oregon State Militia, where he received the title of Major, which he used for the rest of his life.

From the 1888 to the 1916 Major Moorhouse produced over 9,000 images, which document urban, rural, and Native American life in the Columbia Basin, and particularly Umatilla County, Oregon. About 2,300 of these depict native peoples. These images fall into two broad categories – studio portraits of tribal members and images of native life on the Umatilla Reservation.

During his lifetime Moorhouse was most celebrated for his portraits, some of which were known around the world. Many recent scholars find these images somewhat unsatisfactory, however, because they are stiffly posed and inauthentic - Moorhouse supplied the clothing that the subjects wore and the implements they held from his extensive collection of Native American artifacts.

Critics also find the pictures troublesome because Major Moorhouse, like Edward S. Curtis and other photographers of the era, held the view that Indian lifeways were doomed to extinction. One of their goals was to preserve on film the last shimmerings of these traditions before they passed into oblivion. This notion, as many have pointed out, presents a selective image of Native American life – an image that extols and idealizes their past but fails to deal with their present experiences, which were often quite harsh.

But this is only part of the story of Major Moorhouse’s Native American photographs. Moorhouse was also very capable of presenting pictures that were reflective of the present experiences of native peoples. His photographs taken on the Umatilla Reservation are revealing documents of Native American life, as it existed at the beginning of the twentieth century. These pictures are reliable sources of information on native clothing and dwellings, and they capture some of the social and cultural transformations that native peoples were going through.