CUR-04
Arikara Medicine Ceremony – The Ducks
1908
Photogravure on strong vellum and imperial Japan paper
40 x 28 cm
Photographer’s copyright, title, plate number and Photogravure John Andrew & Son imprint on the recto.
From the original portfolio accompanying “The North American Indian”, Volume XIV, 1924, plate 496.
Born in 1868 near Whitewater, Wisconsin, Edward Sheriff Curtis became one of America’s finest photographers and ethnologists. When the Curtis family moved to Port Orchard, Washington in 1887, Edward’s gift for photography led him to an investigation of the Indians living on the Seattle waterfront. His portrait of Chief Seattle’s daughter, Princess Angeline, won Curtis the highest award in a photographic contest. Having become well-known for his work-with the Indians, Curtis participated in the 1899 Harriman expedition to Alaska as one of two official photographers. He then accompanied George Bird Grinell, editor of Forest and Stream, on a trip to northern Montana. There they witnessed the deeply sacred Sundance of the Piegan and Blackfoot tribes. Travelling on horseback, with their pack horses trailing behind, they emerged from the mountains to view the valley floor massed with over a thousand teepees – an awesome sight to Curtis and one that transformed his life. Everything fell into place at that moment: it was clear to him that he was to record, with pen and camera, the life of the North American Indian. Edward S. Curtis devoted the next 30 years photographing and documenting over eighty,tribes west of the Mississippi, from the Mexican border to northern Alaska. His project won support from such prominent and powerful figures as President Theodore Roosevelt and J. Pierpont Morgan. From 1911-1914 Curtis also produced and directed a silent film based on the mythology of the Rawakiutl Indians of the Pacific Northwest. Upon its completion in 1930, the work, entitled The North American Indian, consisted of 20 volumes, each containing 75 hand–pressed photogravures and 300 pages of text. Each volume was accompanied by a corresponding portfolio containing at least 36 photogravures.
Edward Sheriff Curtis. Beauty Heart & Spirit, Schumacher Gallery, Columbus, OH
By Her Hand: Native American Women, Their Art, and the Photographs of Edward S. Curtis - High Desert Museum, Bend, OR
The Realization of a Dream: the Photographs of Edward Curtis - Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Minnetonka, MN
Edward Sheriff Curtis. Beauty Heart & Spirit - Trout Museum, Appleton, WI
Beyond the Frame: Inland Bounty, the work of Edward S. Curtis in the Columbia River Basin - Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center, Wenatchee, WA
Edward Curtis & the North American Indian: Motherland, Tradition, Spirituality - Exhibition in three parts: Tbilisi History Museum (Motherland) / State Silk Museum (Tradition) / Art Palace of Georgia (Spirituality), Tbilisi
Edward S. Curtis: Treasures from The North American Indian - The Wittliff Collections, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX
Edward S. Curtis. Among the Kwakiutl - Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY
Edward S. Curtis: One Hundred Masterworks - CM Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana
Sacred Legacy - Edward S. Curtis and The North American Indian - VB Photographic Centre, Kuopio
Edward Curtis - Selections From The North American Indian - Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME
Edward S. Curtis: One Hundred Masterworks - Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA
Mingled Visions: Image from The North American Indian Collection - Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery - Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA
Edward Sheriff Curtis and Native Americans: Works from The Dorsky Permanent Collection - Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art (SDMA), New Paltz, NY
Edward Curtis in the Southwest - Museum of the Southwest, Midland, TX
Edward S. Curtis - The North American Indian - Mennello Museum of American Art, Orlando, FL
Edward Curtis - FMoPA - Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL
Edward Curtis: Visions of Native America - Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MO
Edward Sheriff Curtis, la danza della memoria, De Primi Fine Art, Lugano, Switzerland.
Edward S. Curtis From the Sparks Collection, - Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, Colorado Springs, CO
Mingled Visions: Selections from Edward S. Curtis's The North American Indian - Wichita Art Museum WAM, Wichita, KS
Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian - Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX
Sacred Legacy: Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian - Amerikahaus, Munich
Edward Curtis: Photogravures from 'The North American Indian' - Colgate University, Hamilton, NY
Edward S. Curtis - Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, CO
Considering Edward Curtis: Recent Gifts to the Permanent Collection - The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
Impressões Visuais - CAM - Casa Andrade Muricy, Curitiba
Edward S. Curtis - Scott Nichols Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Posvatný odkaz - GALÉRIA Z, Bratislava
Sacred Legacy. Edward Curtis and the Northamerican Indian - Glyptotheque - Sculpture Museum, Zagreb
Sacred Legacy - Gallery of Photography, Dublin
Sacred Legacy - Edward Curtis and the North American Indians - Brandts Klædefabrik, Odense
Edward S. Curtis - Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg
Edward S. Curtis - Photographien - Camera Work, Berlin
Edward S. Curtis - Galerie Sonia Zannettacci, Geneva
Edward Curtis - Oswald Gallery, Jackson, WY
Edward S. Curtis. L’eredità degli Indiani del Nord America - Palazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia
Edward S. Curtis: The North American Indian - Oklahoma City Museum of Art, Oklahoma City, OK
Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) - Fotomuseum Den Haag, The Hague
Edward S. Curtis - Palazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia
Edward Curtis - The Shadow Catcher - The Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA
The Master Prints of Edward S. Curtis - Portraits of Native America - Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX
The Master Prints of Edwards S. Curtis - Portraits of Native America - Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Edward S. Curtis - Musée de l´Elysée, Lausanne
Edward Sheriff Curtis - Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, ON
The North American Indian - Joseph Bellows Gallery, La Jolla, CA
Images of an Idyllic Past: The Photographs of Edward S. Curtis - Missoula Art Museum MAM, Missoula, MT
Edward Sheriff Curtis - Musée de l´Elysée, Lausanne
Western Photographics of Edward Curtis - Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA), Indianapolis, IN
Edward S. Curtis - Le Chateau d'Eau, Toulouse
Edward Curtis - Mercer Union - A Centre For Contemporary Visual Art, Toronto, ON
Edward Sheriff Curtis: The North American Indians - University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA
Edward S. Curtis: Photographer - University Avenue, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
Edward Curtis: The North American Indian - The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Plates of The North American Indian, by Edward S. Curtis - The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH