The North American Indian. The Complete Portfolios
(At the turn of the 20th century, the American photographe...)
At the turn of the 20th century, the American photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis started on his 30-year project to produce a monumental study of North American Indians. Using an approach that was both artistically and scientifically ambitious, he recorded, in words and pictures, the traces of the traditional Indian way of life that was already beginning to die out. With tireless personal commitment Curtis visited 80 American Indian tribes from the Mexican border to the Bering Strait, gaining their confidence through his patience and sensitivity.
His work was printed in 20 volumes between 1907 and 1930 as The North American Indian, but with only 272 copies, originals became extremely rare. This book gathers Curtis’s entire American Indian portfolio into one publication, offering renewed access to and appreciation of his extraordinary achievement, which is as much a precious historical document as a triumph of the photographic form.
Edward Sheriff Curtis was a photographer and ethnologist whose work focused on the American West and on Native American peoples.
Background
Edward Sheriff Curtis was born on February 16, 1868 in Whitewater, Wisconsin, United States. Around 1874, the family moved from Wisconsin to Minnesota to join Johnson Curtis's father, Asahel Curtis, who ran a grocery store and was a postmaster in Le Sueur County.
Education
Edward Curtis left school in the sixth grade and soon built his own camera. In 1885, at the age of 17, he became an apprentice photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 1887 the family moved to Seattle, Washington, where he purchased a new camera and became a partner with Rasmus Rothi in an existing photographic studio. Edward Curtis paid $150 for his 50% share in the studio. After about six months, he left Rothi and formed a new partnership with Thomas Guptill. They established a new studio, Curtis and Guptill, Photographers and Photoengravers.
Career
Edward Curtis first photographed an American Indian in 1896, was commissioned to Edward H. Harriman's two-month expedition to Alaska in 1899 and spent the summer of 1900 on a Montana Indian reservation, after which he began his methodical study of Native American tribes west of the Mississippi. From 1906 to 1927 he traveled more broadly throughout the United States as well as British Columbia.
President Theodore Roosevelt, having viewed an exhibit of Curtis' work in Washington, introduced him to J. P. Morgan, who awarded the photographer an advance of $75,000 to complete his Indian study and publish the results. These negotiations occurred around 1905, and by 1930 Edward Curtis had accomplished the remarkable task of creating a twenty-volume illustrated encyclopedia of North American Indian life which included about 1,500 photographic images.
Edward Curtis achieved exceptional technical expertise for his day. Although his style was straight-forward, he tended to romanticize his subjects by posing them with various props and even wigs. He first used a 7 x 14 view camera, later an 11x14, and then finally, a 6 x 8 reflex. He made platinum and silver prints as well as orotones, which were direct positives on glass plates.
On October 19, 1952, at the age of 84, Edward Curtis died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, in the home of his daughter Beth. He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
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Connections
In 1892, Edward Curtis married Clara J. Phillips (1874-1932), who was born in Pennsylvania. Her parents were from Canada. Together they had four children: Harold (1893-1988); Elizabeth M. (Beth) (1896-1973), who married Manford E. Magnuson (1895-1993); Florence (1899-1987), who married Henry Graybill (1893-?); and Katherine (Billy) (1909-?).
During the years of work on The North American Indian, Edward Curtis was often absent from home for most of the year, leaving Clara to manage the children and the studio by herself. After several years of estrangement, Clara filed for divorce on October 16, 1916. In 1919 she was granted the divorce and received Curtis's photographic studio and all of his original camera negatives as her part of the settlement.
Edward Curtis and his daughter Beth went to the studio and destroyed all of his original glass negatives, rather than have them become the property of his ex-wife.
Clara went on to manage the Curtis studio with her sister Nellie (1880-?).
Following the divorce, the two oldest daughters, Beth and Florence, remained in Seattle, living in a boarding house separate from their mother. The youngest daughter, Katherine, lived with Clara in Charleston, Kitsap County, Washington.
Edward S. Curtis: One Hundred Masterworks
Showcasing Edward Curtis's most compelling and important works, this publication highlights both iconic and rarely seen images, demonstrating his artistry and mastery of photographic mediums, and his commitment to documenting and preserving for posterity the Native Americans’ traditions and ways of life.
2015
Stand in the Light: Native Voices Illuminated by Edward S. Curtis
The beautiful historical pictures included in this book are by the photogravure artist Edward Sheriff Curtis. Between 1900 and 1927, he visited eighty tribes across North America and too more than 40,000 photographs, recorded songs and stories, and interviewed tribal leaders. The accompanying beautiful words are the prayers, songs, and wisdom of the peoples included in this book.
Edward S. Curtis Portraits: The Many Faces of the Native American
In 1906 J.P. Morgan commissioned Edward S. Curtis to produce a series of books depicting Native American life. Curtis’ goal was to not just photograph but to document as much of traditional Native life as possible before it disappeared. During his project, Curtis made over 10,000 wax cylinder recordings of Native languages and music, and took over 40,000 photographs of peoples from over eighty tribes. He recorded tribal lore and history, and he described traditional foods, housing, garments, recreation, ceremonies, and funeral customs. He wrote biographical sketches of tribal leaders, and his material, in most cases, is the only recorded history of these amazing peoples. Curtis had a remarkable knack for portraiture. His skill at capturing the intensity of his subjects, the grim reality of their surroundings, and the unquenchable spirit of the people was second to none.