How Do You Recognize Art By Edward Curtis?
Edward Curtis (1868-1952) was an American photographer who specialized in images of the American West, most notably portraits of Native Americans. Curtis was originally commissioned by business magnate J.P. Morgan to document the Native American culture, and wound up taking over 40,000 photographs of over 80 tribes over the course of over 30 years, at a cost of well over a million dollars. The massive project was called “The North American Indian” and was instrumental in establishing photography as a legitimate art form. Investigate the Library of Congress archives for the bulk of Edward Curtis’s “The North American Indian” project, which is available online (see Resources below). Note the controversy that surrounds much of Edward Curtis’s photography of Native Americans. Critics charged that Curtis created glamorous poses for his subjects that ignored their plight, including the decimation of their lands and their generally poor living conditions at the time. Curtis, in his defense, w
