Edward Curtis's grand plan to photograph Native Americans.

Year after year, he packed his camera, provided everything he needed for months, and went deep into Indian territory on foot and horseback. At the beginning of the 20th century, Edward S. Curtis firmly believed that he was racing against time to record the North American Indians with movies, sounds and academics before the whites expanded and the Federation destroyed their indigenous way of life. For 30 years, with the support of J.Pierpont Morgan and former President Theodore Roosevelt, Curtis lived in dozens of indigenous tribes at the expense of family life and health, and devoted himself to his mission all his life until he created an authoritative and unparalleled work "North American Indians". The New York Herald is called "the most ambitious publishing career since the publication of King James' Bible". "

Edward S. Curtis's self-portrait. (* * *) 1868 was born in Wisconsin. Sheriff Edward Curtis started taking pictures when he was very young. /kloc-when he was 0/7 years old, he was an apprentice in a studio in St. Paul, Minnesota. His life seems to be learning a course familiar to young people with market trade until the Curtis family packed their bags and moved to the west, and finally settled in Seattle. There, Curtis married Clara Phillips, who was 18 years old, and bought his own camera and some assets of a local photography studio. 1893, the young couple gave birth to a son, and Harold was the first of their four children.

This young family lives above the thriving Curtis studio and attracts social women. They want their portraits taken by handsome and strong young people to make them look charming and mature. 1895, in Seattle, Curtis took the portrait of Princess Angelina for the first time for an American native. Princess Angelina is the eldest daughter of Duamish tribal chief Sears. He paid her a dollar for each pose and pointed out, "It seems to make her happy. She used gestures and jargon to show that she would rather spend time taking pictures than digging clams. "

However, it was an accidental meeting in 1898 that kept Curtis away from the studio and his family. When he was filming Mount Rainier, he met a group of famous scientists who got lost. Among them is the anthropologist George Bird grinnell, who is an expert in the study of native American culture. Curtis soon made friends with him, which led the young photographer to be appointed as the official photographer of harriman Alaska Expedition 1899, which was led by railroad tycoon H harriman and included naturalist John Muir and zoologist C Hart merian. In the past two months, Curtis interviewed 24 scientists and took all the photos from glaciers to Eskimo settlements. The following year, grinnell invited him to Mount Pigen Blackfoot in Montana. Curtis said without hesitation:

It was under the guidance of grinnell that Curtis of Montana was deeply moved by what he called the "primitive customs and traditions" of the Pigan people, including the "mysterious" sun dance he witnessed. Curtis wrote: "This is the beginning of my cooperation with Qi Xin to understand the plains Indians and film their lives. I was strongly influenced." When he returned to Seattle, he held a popular exhibition of native American works, published magazine articles, and then gave speeches all over the country. His photos are famous for their pure beauty. President theodore roosevelt commissioned Curtis to take photos of his daughter's wedding and take some portraits of the Roosevelt family for him.

Close observation reveals how the famous photographer changed his glass negatives and created the popular image of Indians that still exists today, but Curtis is eager to go back to the west and find more Indians to record. He found a photographer to manage his studio in Seattle, but more importantly, he found a financial supporter to fund a project of his size. 1906, he boldly approached JPMorgan Chase, and JPMorgan Chase soon dismissed him. In the past, the public no longer cared about native American culture. When he returned to Seattle, his ex-wife arrested him for failing to pay alimony and alimony. The stock market crash of 1929 made it almost impossible for him to sell any of his works. By 1930, Edward Curtis had quietly published the last book of the 20-volume North American Indian he planned to publish, and had taken more than 40,000 photos in 30 years. But he was destroyed, mentally and physically collapsed and needed hospitalization in Colorado. Morgan sold 1 9 sets of pleated North American Indians, as well as thousands of printed matter and copperplate prints, to Charles Lauriat Book Company in Boston, Massachusetts for1000, which is part of future royalties.

Once Curtis fully recovered his mental health, he tried to write a memoir, but it was never published. 1952, he died of a heart attack in California at the age of 84. An obituary of * * pointed out that under the sponsorship of JPMorgan Chase, his research was "a mountain in Indian history", and the last sentence was "Mr. Curtis is also widely regarded as a photographer."

Edward Curtis's photos represent ideals and images, aiming at creating an eternal vision of native American culture, at a time when modern facilities and the expansion of the United States have irreversibly changed the Indian lifestyle. When Curtis arrived in various tribal areas, the United States had forced Indian children to enter boarding schools, banned them from speaking their mother tongue and asked them to cut their hair. Curtis did not choose to record this. He painstakingly created the image of Indians, who wore traditional clothes that had been thrown away. These scenes are sometimes modified by Curtis and his assistants to eliminate any modern works of art. For example, there is a clock in his image, in a small room in Pigan.

Some critics accused him of ignoring the plight and torture of his subjects and using photo fraud to promote his career. According to Bruce Kapson Gallery, which represents Curtis' works, others praised him, pointing out that he "can convey a kind of dignity, universal humanity and majesty, surpassing all other work done on this issue. Laurie Lawler wrote in her book Shadow Catcher: Living and Working in Edward S. Curtis: "It is estimated that the cost of producing North American Indians today will exceed $35 million. "Curtis is far ahead of his contemporaries in sensitivity, tolerance and openness to native American culture and way of thinking. He tried to observe and understand by going directly into the field. "

source

Books: Laurie Lawler, Shadow Catcher: The Life and Work of Edward Curtis, Bison Books, 2005. Mick Gidley, Edward S. Curtis and North American Indians, Inc., Cambridge University Press, 2000.

KDSP article: Edward Curtis: hieroglyphic and ethnographic adventurer, by Gerald Vizener, written according to the author's speech at the Edward Curtis Seminar of Claremont Graduate University on June 6-7, 2000. //memory.loc.gov/ammem/award98/ienhtml/essay3.html Edward Curtis: The Shadow Catcher, written by George Hawes, an American master, April 23, 2006, 5438+0. //pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/exceptions/Edward-Curtis/shadow-catcher/568/The Imperfect Eye of Edward Curtis, by Pedro Pang Si, Humanities, May/June 2000, Volume 2 1/ 3://neh.gov/news/humanitics/2000-05/Curtis.html Edward S. Curtis, Smithsonian Institution Library Exhibition. ://sil.si.edu/exhibitions/Curtis/index.htm "Selling North American Indians: The Works of Edward Curtis", written by Valerie Daniels in June 2002, : //xroads. Virginia. edu/~ ma02/ Daniels/Curtis /promotion.html Edward Curtis and the North American Indians: A Detailed Chronicle, Eric J Keller/Soulcacher Studio,: //soulcacherstudio. /artists/ Curtis _ cron.html, Edward S. Curtis (1868- 1952) and North American Indians, by Mick Gidley, Essays of North American Indians: The Lost Race: Selected Works of North American Indians in Edward S. Curtis, (. 1976, new york: taplin, 1977. )://memory . loc . gov/ammem/award 98/ien html/essay 1 . html "