Edward S. Curtis: Sacred Legacy

EDWARD S. CURTIS SACRED LEGACY

Edward S. Curtis, Self-Portrait

SACRED LEGACY® “Its such a big dream, I can’t see it all.” —Edward ¬Curtis Over one hundred years ago, the American photographer Edward Sherriff Curtis set out on a monumental quest to make an unprecedented, comprehensive record of the North American Indian. During a thirty-year period he produced 40,000-50,000 photographs of Native peoples from over eighty different tribal groups. Curtis’ mission was to safeguard and preserve their ‘sacred legacy’ by creating a lasting record of their lives in photographs, film, sound, and text. This was a highly collaborative process and the Native people were active co-creators in preserving this record for future generations. It is estimated that over 10,000 Native people actively and generously contributed their time, experience and knowledge toward the creation of this Sacred Legacy®. Curtis was a witness and messenger as much as a co-creator. Today this work stands as a landmark in the history of photography, book publishing, ethnography, and the American West.

Viewed in its entirety, Curtis’ work presents an historical record of enormous importance. Edward S. Curtis and his Native co-creators not only preserved for future generations a crucial part of American history, but also provided a powerful opportunity to understand many aspects of the American Indian experience. Perhaps the most important legacy of Curtis’ monumental accomplishment is the expression of an extraordinary and deeply felt empathy and understanding of the personal, emotional, and spiritual lives of the American Indian. The work’s core message is one of beauty, heart, and spirit. In these respects, this collaborative body of work is unique and unparalleled.

The Vanishing Race, 1904 The Vanishing Race was Curtis’ signature piece and was the visual metaphor for the core concept underlying Curtis’ entire thirty- year project i.e., that Native Americans, as a culture, at least, were vanishing and that it was Curtis’ over-arching goal to capture a record of them and their world before they disappeared forever. Curtis searched for an image to illustrate this idea for nearly four years before creating The Vanishing Race. A century ago, it was by far and away Curtis’ most popular single image. Today it still remains a highly sought after classic. *Available in a pigment print or lithograph.

Qahatika Girl, 1908 Forty miles due south of the Pima reservation, which is present-day Arizona, in five small villages lived the true desert Indian, the Qahatika. They fled to the barren desert after being defeated by the Apache tribe. When asked why they do not live in river valleys, where they could live in plenty, their answer was that their home is the best; that they do not have the river sickness as do the River Indians.

Bear’s Belly — Arikara, 1909 Born in 1847 in the present day North Dakota, Bear’s Belly was a highly respected and honored warrior and became a member of the Bears in the Medicine Fraternity. He acquired his bearskin in a dramatic battle in which he single-handedly killed three bears, thus gaining his personal “medicine”.

Kutenai Duck Hunter, 1910 This photograph was taken on Flathead Lake in Northern Montana and the Native American pictured is from the Kutenai tribe. The Kutenai were semi-nomadic and occupied portions of southeastern British Columbia, northern Idaho, and northwestern Montana, moving seasonally to follow food sources. The Kutenai usually crafted their canoes of pine bark, but as illustrated here, occasionally made canoes of fresh elk hides stretched over a framework of fir strips.

This photograph was taken in the early morning as a hunter crouched down in his canoe waiting to catch waterfowl.

Canyon de Chelly — Navaho, 1904 Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “chay”, after the Navaho “Ta Shay”) was one of the most sacred places for the Navaho and remains so to this day. It is located in Northeastern Arizona in the heart of Navaho country. Of Curtis’ 50,000 negatives this is considered to be one of his ten most important and powerful. The insignificance of man relative to nature is clearly illustrated through the sheer size (approximately 1,000 feet high) of enduring cliff formations that surround the riders. Canyon de Chelly is regarded as Curtis’ single most popular goldtone today and the contemporary Goldtone captures the subtleties and richness of the original negative in a way that was impossible a hundred years ago. *Availabile in a pigment print or lithograph.