Edward S. Curtis
1868–1952 · United States
A vast body of work to read with an awareness of its staging.
The story
Edward S. Curtis undertook The North American Indian, a set of volumes and portfolios devoted to Indigenous peoples of North America. Portraits, landscapes and scenes of everyday life form a monumental documentary project. Yet its staging, aesthetic choices and narrative of a supposedly vanishing world must also be considered. The people and communities photographed cannot be reduced to that historical framework.
Understanding the work
Read the identifications and place each image within the community concerned. Look at what the pose and setting select as much as what they show.
Key works and series
The North American Indian; portraits and landscapes; photogravure portfolios.
Sources & further exploration
Works in collections.
6 recordsPhotographs to explore on museum and library websites, with titles, dates and processes. Each link opens the collection record and its image where one is available.
