A celebration of the history and the extraordinary diversity of the North American Indian tribes at the beginning of the last century.
January 25 - February 6
Ivan Honchar Museum, Kyiv
February 21 - March 5
Museum of Ethnography and Art Industry, Lviv
March 20 - April 2
Historical Museum, Dnipropetrovsk
Sponsored by: The Embassy of the United States of America
Who was Edward S. Curtis?
In 1900, Edward S. Curtis set out to document the history, spirituality, and culture of all intact Native American tribes west of the Mississippi. Curtis understood the urgency of his endeavor and wrote:
"The passing of every old man or woman means the passing of some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other; consequently, the information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of future generations, respecting one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the opportunity will be lost for all time."
What he did not realize, was the enormous amount of time, effort, and personal sacrifice the project would extract from him before it was completed. In the end, Curtis' magnum opus, The North American Indian, comprised twenty volumes and twenty portfolios including more than 2,200 photogravures and over 4,600 pages of written text. The North American Indian required over thirty years of work (a typical working day lasting fifteen hours) and cost approximately $37,000,000 in today's dollars. Despite the support of President Theodore Roosevelt and the substantial financial assistance of J.P. Morgan, Curtis constantly struggled to secure the financial resources to continue his work. By the time the last of the twenty volume set was published in 1930, Curtis had lost his financial security, his family, and his health in his single-minded devotion to completing his study.
The resulting body of work is a monument in the history of photography, publishing and ethnography. In addition to The North American Indian, Curtis wrote three other, produced a movie, lectured widely and made 10,000 Edison wax cylinder recordings of native songs, languages, and tribal histories. His accomplishments provide an invaluable source of information on more than eighty tribal groups.
Edward S. Curtis was largely forgotten by the time he finished the project and his work lapsed into such obscurity that by the time he died in 1952, his obituary in the New York Times made only passing reference to the fact he had been a photographer. Only recently has his work received the acclaim warranted by his remarkable achievement.
Edward Curtis Timeline
1868
Edward S.Curtis is born in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and grows up in rural Cordova, Minnesota. As a boy, Curtis borrows a manual, which instructs him how to make his own camera out of household items. He used a lens his father brought home from the Civil War. His Father is Johnson Asahel Curtis, a preacher and mother is Ellen Sheriff. Siblings: Raphael Curtis (1862-1912); Eva Curtis (1870-?); Asahel Curtis (1875-1941)
1885
At the age of seventeen Edward spent time as an apprentice photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota.
1887
His father's worsening health mandated that the family move to a more temperate climate, and they chose the booming Pacific Northwest. Edward buys his first camera.
After Edward and his father settle in Washington territory, his mother, brother and sister join them. Three says after their arrival, Johnson dies.
1892
Curtis buys into, and later owns a photographic studio in Seattle, and develops a reputation for portraits and landscapes.
Marries Clara Phillips. They have four children. Harold Curtis (1893-?); Elizabeth M. Curtis (1896-1973); Florence Curtis (1899-?) who married Henry Graybill; and Katherine Curtis a.k.a. Billy (1909-?)
1895
Curtis meets and photographs Princess Angeline (a.k.a. Kickisomlo), the daughter of Chief Sealth (Seattle), for whom Seattle was named
1898
On Mount Rainier, Curtis rescues three lost scientists, including noted anthropologist George Bird Grinnell, Clinton Hart Merriam and Gifford Pinchot.
1899
Based on his acquaintance with C. Hart Merriam, Curtis is appointed official photographer for the Harriman Alaska Expedition.
1900
Curtis accompanies George Bird Grinnell to the Piegan Reservation in northwest Montana to photograph the Sun Dance ceremony.
1901
Formally begins what would become his life's work, photographing and publishing The North American Indian, a project which entailed documenting the culture all of the remaining Native American tribes west of the Mississippi river
1904
President Theodore Roosevelt invites Curtis to photograph his children after seeing Curtis' winning photograph in "The Prettiest Children in American" contest published in Ladies' Home Journal.
1905
Holds his first photographic exhibit in New York, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Louisa Satterlee, daughter-in-law of financier J. P. Morgan, purchases Curtis photographs at an exhibit in New York City.
1906
Curtis secures funds from J. P. Morgan, and with support from President Theodore Roosevelt, for the fieldwork to produce a twenty volume illustrated text of American Indians, to be completed in five years.
1907
First volume of The North American Indian is published, with a foreword by Theodore Roosevelt.
1911
Curtis breaks his hip and suffers life-long limp while filming a Kwakiutl whale hunt on the Northwest Coast. Curtis is slapped by whale's tail as he directs canoe paddlers to move closer for a better shot of the whale. The canoe and camera sink as Kwakiutl whalers rescue Curtis.
1911
After 5 years, only 8 of the planned twenty volumes are completed.
1912-1914
To raise money for the Project, Curtis spends 75,000 making a full-length film about Kwakiutl culture. Titled, "In The Land of the Headhunters", the film is released in 1914 and is a commercial failure.
1913
J.P. Morgan dies, but his son decides to continue funding The North American Indian until finished.
1915
With 10 volumes of The North American Indian published, U.S. enters World War I. Interest in the project subsides, delaying publication of additional volumes for the next six years.
1920
Curtis moves photography studio from Seattle to Los Angeles. Curtis finances fieldwork for finishing The North American Indian by working in his studio and in Hollywood as a still photographer and movie camera operator for major studios.
1922
Volume 12 published
1927
Curtis travels to Alaska to document the native Eskimo tribes, a that trip culminates three decades of fieldwork.
1930
Last volume of The North American Indian is published.
1931
With the country in the depths of the Great Depression, however, there is little interest in the work and it sinks into obscurity.
1932
Curtis is hospitalized in a Denver osteopathic clinic for exhaustion and depression.
1935
Materials remaining from The North American Indian project, including photogravure plates, are sold to the Charles Lauriat Company, a rare book dealer in Boston. Curtis turns his attention to gold mining and farming.
1940
During the 1940's, Curtis works on a book about sea otters and another about gold mining.
October 21, 1952
Curtis dies in Los Angeles at the age of 84 of a heart attack at the home of his daughter, Beth. Edward Curtis is buried at Forest Lawn cemetery in Hollywood Hills, Ca.
In its seventy-six-word obituary, The New York Times, while stating that Curtis was famous worldwide as an ethnographer of North American Indians, noted only in passing that he also had been a photographer.
Links:
Wikipedia Entry on Edward Curtis
American Masters Video Presentation on Edward Curtis
U.S. Library of Congress Edward Curtis collection
Edward Curtis and The North American Indian
Chronological Biography of Edward Curtis
Frontier Photographer: Edward S. Curtis
