Edward Sheriff Curtis by Joanna Scherer, Joanna Cohan Scherer, Joanna Cohen Scherer (Editor)

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Synopsis

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) is best known for his outstanding documentary record of the North American Indian tribes from the first decades of the twentieth century. His portrayal of their ceremonies and daily work, his mesmerizing close-up portraits, and his powerful landscapes of the American West were intended to serve as an anthropological resource on a "vanishing race". Curtis's project was published in The North American Indian, a series of luxurious volumes funded by financier J.P. Morgan and President Theodore Roosevelt. These remain among the most collectible and sought-after photobooks in the history of the medium. The American Indian cultures have not disappeared altogether as Curtis feared, but his project's success lies in its powerful record of faces and places that mark a bygone era in American history. His photographs, which portray over 80 separate tribes, are marked by dramatic lighting, sensitivity, and beauty. This introductory monograph includes a range of portraits, landscapes, and pictures from around the American West alongside examples of Curtis's studio portraiture, which was more typical of the Pictorialist photography of his time. This is the perfect book for students and enthusiasts of early twentieth-century photography, history, anthropology, and Native American culture.

Douglas F. Smith - Library Journal

Curtis (1868-1952) is best known for his ethnographic photography documenting the North American native people and cultures. Under the patronage of J.P. Morgan in the early 20th century, Curtis focused his lens on the tribes of the western United States and Canada. He was a master of soft focus, and the chiaroscuro effects of this technique give his photographs an arresting, painterly impression. By some recent scholars, he has been accused of dressing up his subjects to overemphasize notions of a vanishing race or Rousseauian noble savagery; however, his images form an important record of traditional ways of life and American aesthetic renditions of Native American cultures. Scherer (anthropology, emerita, Smithsonian Inst.) introduces this monograph, which contains nearly 60 beautifully printed sepia photographs, a good introductory sampling of Curtis's vast body of work. There are numerous examples of his compelling portraiture-the close-up face of the aging Nez Percé Chief Joseph is probably the most famous-in addition to the romantic pastoral scenes that can be seen reproduced throughout the rural West. Any library that does not already own one of the many editions of Curtis's definitive series, The North American Indian, would find this a worthwhile purchase.

Biography

Joanna Cohan Scherer is an anthropologist and researcher for the Handbook of North American Indians at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. She has written numerous articles on images of Native Americans.