A young Paiute man fills the frame of this albumen CDV, produced at C. W. Carter's Photograph Gallery and View Emporium at 207 W. First South Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. Carter was one of the most prolific photographers of the American West and is particularly well documented for his portraits of Native peoples in the Utah Territory during the 1870s and 1880s. The bust-length composition is tightly cropped against a plain graduated backdrop.

The subject wears a strand of white beads that runs from the crown of his head down along his straight dark hair and loops as a choker at his throat. A single feather rises from the back of his head. His buckskin shirt features a V-neck opening with fringe, and a blanket or robe is draped across his lower chest. His gaze is directed slightly upward and to the left, conveying a composed, direct presence.

Carter's extensive documentation of Native peoples in and around Salt Lake City produced some of the most important ethnographic portrait records of the region, and this image belongs to that recognized body of work. The subject's nation and name are not identified on the card.

The reverse imprint reads: C. W. Carter's Photograph Gallery and View Emporium, 207 W. First South Street, Salt Lake City, Utah. Tin Types Taken. A handwritten notation reading "142" appears at the lower right corner of the reverse.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer