The Curator’s Eye recently spoke with Christopher Cardozo of Christopher Cardozo Fine Art, based in Minneapolis, about the art dealing profession and how he goes about embracing change and expanding global knowledge of his field. The discussion covered his passion for Edward S. Curtis and his strategic addition of The Curator’s Eye (http://www.CuratorsEye.com/) to his business practice.

An Inspired Start: Being a Researcher, a Gallerist, and Shifting Course with the Changing Times

Years ago, Cardozo spent six months as a photographer and ethnographic researcher in a small, remote, indigenous village in Mexico. He did not then know about Edward S. Curtis until a friend brought the now-prominent American photographer to Cardozo's attention. Now, forty years later, Cardozo is a leading photography dealer specializing in the life and works of Curtis. Because Curtis worked as an “ethnographer, filmmaker, author, photographer, and publisher, doing so many different things, and the Native people he made the subjects of his work were a broad and varied group,” this breadth has given Cardozo an immense body of work to learn both from and about.

For many years Cardozo operated a gallery in Aspen, Colorado. As an international destination of the highest order, the gallery space gave Cardozo ample opportunity to meet new clients.

Replacing the Gallery with Online Reach, Selecting The Curator’s Eye as Keystone in New Strategy

Ten years ago he closed the gallery to broaden his pursuits. Because of the shift to private dealing, Cardozo found the “need to find new ways to market.”

He adopted The Curator's Eye as part of his marketing strategy out of a desire “to be able to reach people internationally.” Cardozo will use the technological tools delivered by The Curator's Eye to replace the gallery, to broaden his reach and to enhance his ability to identify, educate, and work with clients personally, which was always one of his favorite parts of dealing.

The Curator’s Eye Provides One of the Building Blocks, Along With Museum Exhibitions, Books, and Multimedia Shows

In place of the Aspen gallery, Cardozo enjoys “having the time to do more outreach” about Curtis's life and work. In order to raise awareness of the groundbreaking artist, Cardozo has spearheaded three exhibition models that have travelled the globe, eight books, repatriation efforts that place Curtis photographs back with the Native American tribes where they originated, and multimedia shows. Additionally, a possible museum featuring Cardozo's extensive collection is in the works. These large-scale projects will merge with the targeted online reach provided by The Curator's Eye to nurture collectors and international interest that can only help Cardozo's business.

Carefully Selected Pieces Are Chosen to Provide the Greatest Impact on The Curator’s Eye Marketing Platform

Out of the thousands of images by Curtis to choose from, Cardozo carefully selected a varied group to be displayed on The Curator's Eye. These works, united in their beauty, cover a wide span of price points. Some, such as A Walpi Man, are extremely rare pieces, but all of the photographs are compelling and capture the essential nature of the Native American and the West, whether in landscape form like Canyon de Chelly, by close-up portrait as in A Zuni Governor, or a combination of the two like An Oasis in the Badlands - Sioux.

When asked to name his favorite piece by the artist he has spent so much time considering, Cardozo first acknowledged that it was an impossible question. Different works have stood out at different times, but “some continue to live well with him for forty years.” In particular, he “still looks at and still enjoys Canyon de Chelly,” a stunning Western landscape populated by small figures of Native Americans on horseback in iconic, sacred Navaho territory.

The online exhibition of photographs by Edward S. Curtis made available by Christopher Cardozo on The Curator's Eye can only continue to raise the profile of this extraordinary American photographer and invaluable documenter of the West.

The Curator’s Eye is the distinctive online platform for the finest art and antiques from distinguished dealers around the world. To view more exceptional items for the distinguished private collector available from the top dealers across the globe, visit www.CuratorsEye.com.