In 1895 Edward Curtis photographed an 85 year old Duwamish princess along the shores of Puget Sound titled, The Clam Digger. The encounter with Princess Angeline propelled him towards a three decade journey documenting what remained of the once powerful indigenous civilizations of Western North America. The experience would leave him both financially and physically bankrupt.
The carnage wrought on the first peoples by European colonization was unfortunately the most efficient and enduring genocidal endeavor in world history. The pre-columbian population in North America has been estimated at between 14 and 18 million. Through disease, systematic starvation, assimilation and outright murder, by 1900 those numbers had dwindled to approximately 250,000. The effects on Central and South America were of equal measure. The devastation was so immense that many at the time thought there would be no recovery.
Curtis traveled the West documenting the descendants of over thirty nations. He was, and continues to be, criticized for posing subjects, having them wear their ancestors ceremonial attire, and appropriating their culture and rituals. His methods were misguided and the attempt to recreate a reality which no longer existed is considered insensitive. If you read his own words though, you will find within them a deep appreciation for those he encountered. In the last years of his project you will even find anger as to the lack of government acknowledgment and remedies for the misdeeds. His underlying desire was to show the pride and power of the cultures and to record for future generations what might disappear forever. He spent an incredible amount of time and sacrificed much to capture all that he could. In doing so he left the world with an incomplete and flawed, but also powerful glimpse of the people that endured.
His project compiled over a million words of commentary and research and 40,000 images. In the doing Curtis utilized and created photographic processes and techniques that were at the forefront of the modern photography movement. He prided himself on the quality of his composition, lighting, and the materials used. Curtis pushed past the norms of pictorialism and created works that emoted the depth of the subjects place in the world. The work appeared prior to or in conjunction with the photographers most predominantly associated with modern photography in the early twentieth century. It stands on its own merit in comparison when considered in that realm.
When I first came across his collection in the Library of Congress I recognized some of the images, the iconic Chiefs in headdress I had seen in TV documentaries or on museum walls. It wasn’t until I dove deeper, past the stereotypical that I realized what was there, an intimate portrait of people and communities that I had never seen before. I have spend the past three years going through the over 17,000 images in the LOC collection, both online and in-person. I have also encountered other smaller collections at The Morgan Library, and The Getty Museum. At each stage as I edit my selection down for this book and digitally restore the close to 400 images, my relationship with the people in them grows. They have taken on a certain kind of friendship. When I open a photograph to work on it I feel the immediacy of the moment captured. My connection to those individuals before the lens deepens.
Whether Curtis’s intentions or results were proper or misguided I don’t have the right to say. That question is for the descendants of those he portrayed. What I do know is that I find the images beautiful and endearing. They have also led to larger conversations about their legitimacy, and have inspired contemporary native artists to create new work like Project 562 by Matika Wilbur. My personal feeling is that our humanity would be greatly lessened if these people had been lost to faded memories.
Curtis Modern:In 2024 I will publisha 300 plus page volume containing nearly 400 images taken by Curtis during his endeavor. In the gallery below you will find previews of a few of these images. I will release one every week or so while continuing work to complete the project.