Edward S. Curtis

Title: Sioux Chiefs

Artist: Edward S. Curtis

Medium: Large Format

Year: 1908



Give a brief description of the movement, photographer, or term you researched. How are they significant to the history of photography (50-75 words)? Edward Curtis first got into photography working as an apprentice in St Paul, MN, later moving to Seattle, WA. Later in his career, he produced a series of photographs of native Americans for J.P. Morgan, consisting of 1500 prints in 20 volumes. He wanted to not just photograph them, but document the native people and their way of life. He took over 40,000 photographs of 80 different tribes, and also made thousands of wax cylinder recordings of their language and music.







Write a short personal reaction to the movement, photographer or term you researched. What is interesting or not interesting about the work (50 – 75 words). Edward Curtis' work is interesting because of the detail with which he wanted to record the native american's lives. It seems like he cared both about the natives, and being accurate, however, it is noted that he retouched many of his images, completely removing or adding some details, especially ones that show parts of the modern world. It is interesting that someone so big on detail and accuracy would change his images.









Name (please only include if it is ok to publish on blog): Andrew Benson