Four Winds Gallery
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The Photography of Edward Sheriff Curtis
MARGOT ABRAHAMS - Four Winds Gallery
Edward S. Curtis was a man with a determined vision to document the "Vanishing Race". Within his lifetime, he succeeded in recording every single known tribe still in existence in North America at the turn of the 20th Century. It is possibly the most important visual record on any single native people anywhere in the world.[1]
Curtis's life-long obsession had its beginnings when at age 12, he made his own camera. Born in Wisconsin in 1868, the self-taught photographer was fascinated by the Indians around the area where he grew up. These people and the surrounding landscape were the perfect subjects for him to practise his technique.
These small local trips led to expeditions where he met people who would help fund further expeditions, such as J.P Morgan, a wealthy banker and railroad magnate. He also had the support of President Roosevelt and other well-to-do people. Between 1889 and 1930, Curtis visited Indians from all over the U.S. There was no end to his passion for preserving the memory and recording the history of the North American Indian before the race and culture disappeared. He spent about16 hours a day in the field and it was not unusual for him and his team to work a 20 hour day. He often spoke to people over the age of 100 and sometimes returned to a site as many as ten times in ten years to gather the best possible examples of tribal life.[2]
With a background in studio and portrait photography, Curtis was a master of capturing and presenting an image to invoke emotion. Carefully-staged romanticised images of Indians in feathered head-dresses silhouetted against fluffy clouds in waning sunlight, result in Curtis's mystical Indian being placed side-by-side with the lonesome cowboy, both representatives of a bygone era.[3] Curtis's passion, dedication, creativity and intelligence are illustrated by the extensive processes he went through to document the life of the American Indians as exquisitely as he did. He wanted to educate and change the public's preconceived and ignorant notions of the Indians. He was an artist, often expressing an idealised image of the American Indian, a historian and a writer, capturing it all before it faded and a scientist, going into the detail of the race and tribes and pursuing the best technical expertise to express his sometimes romanticised notions. Curtis's images were composed with the skill of a great photographer. He used cropping, lighting and shadows, focus and lack there of, to heighten the dramatic impact of the subject matter. He was not an ethnologist, although the idea behind this was an influence on his work, instead choosing to, at times evoke a romanticism of the Indian lifestyle. For example, some images were retouched to remove objects of civilization like clocks or tourists watching a staged snake dance.[4]
Curtis studied, lived with, respected and was respected by the Indians. He became privy to ceremonies and dances that few other white men had seen, let alone be allowed to photograph. He researched language, social and political organisation, religious customs, living conditions, acquisition and preparation of food, the environment, games, music, dances (which he also did with short film footage he took- amazing, given the time period), clothes, rituals and traditions of birth, marriage and death. He did this with thoroughness and love for detail.
The end result of The North American Indian, took more than 30 years and consisted of 20 volumes in total, each being accompanied by a large format photographic portfolio containing 35 large photographs of mostly related subjects on 12" x 16" plates. 272 sets were printed of the 500 sets originally planned. Each self-contained volume of text was illustrated with approximately 75, 5" x 7" plates and was devoted to a single or a number of topographically adjacent North American Indian tribes. In addition to photographs, artwork and maps were sometimes included.[5]
This all culminated in an exceedingly lavish and costly production. He produced exquisite work printed on heavy stock, the papers of choice being high quality, heavily textured watercolour paper compared to a fine tissue or onion skin paper that was also used. The books were bound in leather and gilt edging. Their luxuriousness and small print run prevented the wide circulation of their content to which Curtis aspired.[6]
Curtis truly drew art and science together and achieved the greatness of his work due to a passion for both. His desire for the romantic expression of his subject matter propelled the science of the processes he used. He was driven to make his photographs convey the idealised notions he had of the Indians, their culture and the land, through these actions.
There were four main types of print process used by Curtis. The main type, which consisted of 98% of prints, was the photogravure. This is a photoengraving technique notable for its unusual subtlety. Photogravure is a meeting of photography and engraving where the photographic image is chemically etched into the surface of a copper printing plate. After it is etched, the plate is cleaned, inked and printed by hand, one at a time.[7]
These photogravures have the advantage of being able to be retouched individually. For example, to enhance a cloudy sky, lighten shadows or even remove slightly out-of- focus parts. In spite of its expense and difficulty, Curtis chose photogravure because it was one of the finest photographic printing processes available, with consistent results. The beauty of the fine print and warm sepia tones perfectly complement Curtis's imagery.
The Platinum prints of Curtis are very rare because of the expense and difficulty of the print. These are widely regarded as the highest form of photographic printing. It is unusual for there to be more than two or three prints of any one image. Curtis's platinum prints are delicate, generally warm-toned and often printed on two fine handmade papers, a Japanese vellum and a fine Dutch etching stock called Holland van gelder.[8]
The Platinum print is the product of a contact printing process and exhibits a very high resolution. The paper is sensitized with iron salts and silver nitrate mixed with platinum and exposed in sunlight. The image appears during the exposure. The print is then submerged in a potassium oxilate solution to dissolve the iron salts, after which the remaining platinum forms the image.[9]
The toned gelatin silver print was the most common black and white photograph made last century. This is where a silver salt suspended in a gelatin emulsion forms the image. Curtis toned most of his silver prints to give them the warm sepia tone that perfectly suited the subject matter.[10] The signed gelatin prints have the negative number and the copyright sign on them, to which the photographer held great importance. The date refers to the date of the copyright and not the actual exposure.[11]
The most precious and beautiful of the prints Curtis used was the goldtone, also known as an orotone and the Curt-tone (a hallmark of the Curtis studio), which he had part in pioneering. He only printed about one in every thousand negatives in this expensive and difficult process.
In the goldtone process, the photograph is printed directly onto the glass instead of paper, then backed with a viscous mixture of powdered gold pigment and banana oil.[12] Although it is very difficult to produce high quality goldtone images, as the emulsion is suspended on and supported by glass instead of paper, which creates difficulties and limitations, Curtis often achieved beautiful results and they have become very valuable and highly sought-after.[13] The reflectivity of the gold backing and the lighter areas of the emulsion, creates a luminous, three dimensional quality that makes these images both unique and awe-inspiring.
Curtis's valuable contribution to the documentation of American Indian life came at a cost to his personal life. Time away in the field meant time away from the studio, which was the source of income for his family and for the project. The constant shortage of money and his near permanent absence from his family led to the breakup of his marriage. He lost his studio and all its contents to his wife in the divorce. He endured physical hardship associated with travel and also experienced a number of years where no work was achieved due to lack of funding, declared himself "broke" and suffered a three year physical breakdown and period of depression. After spending a few nights in jail because he neglected to pay his wife alimony while he was in Alaska documenting the final volume, his response to the judge when asked why he was doing it (the project), was; "It was my job. The only thing I could do that was worth doing… A sort of life's work… was duty bound to finish".
One hundred years later, thanks to the financial and emotional sacrifices Curtis made, we have the privilege of being able to see not only beautiful images, but aspects of a dying culture frozen in time.
Curtis was an individual who wanted to educate people on the American Indians and preserve precious images and information before it faded away. These images allow us to visit the past and see things we wouldn't otherwise be able to see. He always believed in his 20 volume goal, and achieved it, although at many times, it looked like it was not going to happen. Curtis's images present the Indian heritage in a memorable and dramatic way and record it for history. They capture a feeling and evoke the memory of a by-gone era of a noble people. They are images that inspire, teach and represent the culmination of one man's life-long dream.
[1] The Shadow Catcher by Edward S.Curtis. Published by Atlas Ltd Editors.
[2] Prayer to the Great Mystery. Introduction by Patricia Nelson Limerick. Published by St.Martin's Press.
[3] The North American Indian: Complete Portfolios. Published by Taschen.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] The Shadow Catcher by Edward S.Curtis. Published by Atlas Ltd Editors.
[7] Extract from Edward S.Curtis by Christopher Cardozo with Darren Quintenz.
[8] The Shadow Catcher by Edward S.Curtis. Published by Atlas Ltd Editors.
[9] Extract from Edward S.Curtis by Christopher Cardozo with Darren Quintenz.
[10] Ibid.
[11] Edward S.Curtis by Hans Christian Adam. Published by Taschen.
[12] The Shadow Catcher by Edward S.Curtis. Published by Atlas Ltd Editors.
[13] Extract from Edward S.Curtis by Christopher Cardozo with Darren Quintenz.