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Paul Unks
“I decided not to produce them as ordinary reproductions as had already been done,
but rather as Curtis did, as the highest quality handmade intaglio photogravures and
Gold Tones possible. I did not know at the time it would take 10 years to learn his
old crafts.”
– Paul Unks
Growing up in Missouri, Paul Unks was a creative kid with a love for Native American
culture. He took up black and white photography as a child and fell in love with the
direct connection to humanity he found in the medium.
At the University of Missouri, Unks had the opportunity to learn from photographic scholars, including Art Terry, former editor in chief of National Geographic, and Angus McDougall who worked with Ansel Adams. It was there that Unks first learned of the work of Edward Curtis.
In 1997, he discovered a rare complete set of Curtis’ original photographs for The North American Indian, which had been stored in a vault at the University of Denver since 1938. He obtained exclusive rights from the University to reissue a limited edition of 250 prints –– the second half of the edition of 500 that Curtis was unable to complete in his lifetime.
Mountain Hawk Fine Arts was founded in 1999. His printing studio takes its name from Unks’ given Native American name, “Little Mountain Hawk.”
