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Pictorialist Elements in Edward S. Curtis's Photographic Representation of American Indians

1994; Modern Humanities Research Association; Volume: 24; Linguagem: Inglês

10.2307/3507890

2222-4289

Mick Gidley,

Visual Culture and Art Theory

Since the 1970s, when there were several exhibitions and books featuring Edward S. Curtis's Indian photographs, there has been a revival of interest in the total output of Curtis and his project: The North American Indian (1907-1930), the monumental set of twenty volumes of illustrated text and twenty portfolios of large-size photogravures; popular magazine articles in Century, Scribner's, and the like from 1898 onwards; popularizing books, such as Indian Days of the Long Ago (1914); lecture series, and, even, a 'musicale' or 'picture opera' on Native American cultures that filled Carnegie Hall in 19'1 ; In the Land of the Head-Hunters, originally released in 1914, the very first narrative documentary film; and, of course, many exhibitions and much incidental publication of the countless photographs created by the project. In fact, the project, which was devoted to over eighty different Native American peoples living west of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers who (in Curtis's prefatory words to The North American Indian) 'still retained to a considerable degree their primitive customs and traditions', almost certainly constitutes the largest anthropological enterprise ever undertaken. The collection of ethnological data for The North American Indian including thousands of musical recordings as well as the verbal data, such as myths and folklore, and the photographs was achieved by a (changing) field team of ethnologists, Native American assistants and informants, photographic technicians, and others. The production and distribution of the text, which became the responsibility of a specially created New York business company run by Curtis, The North American, Inc., involved prodigious organization, massive funding, the co-operation of specialist publishing and photo-engraving companies, and considerable attention to publicity. The North American Indian was sold on a subscription basis, mostly to very prosperous individuals and major libraries, in a severely limited edition of luxurious, leather-bound books.1