Edward Curtis is one of the most well recognized photographers of Native Americans. Curtis was born near Whitewater, Wisconsin in 1868. He became interested in photography as a young child and even built his own camera. By 1896, he was established as one of the foremost studio photographer and had become the sole owner of a successful photography studio in Seattle, Washington. He became the official photographer of the Edward E. Harriman Expedition in 1899 after meeting anthropologist George Bird Grinnell and Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Chief of the U.S. Biological Survey. His interest in Native Americans culminated in the North American Indian project, a twenty-volume set of ethnographic information illustrated with photo-engravings taken from his glass plate negatives. He is also known for his Orotones, or goldtone prints, which were praised for their beauty and stability.

Curtis and his team spent weeks at a time with a tribe and revisited year after year to gain the tribe’s acceptance and permission to photograph their people, ceremonies, and daily activities. Despite his acceptance into the community, Curtis was not always allowed to document an event and some ceremonies were even presented in an edited version to Curtis and his team. There has been considerable controversy over his works and doubts of their authenticity as an ethnographic document due to his use of props and the fact that he asked some of the Native Americans to change from modern clothes into their traditional attire. At the same time, his works were praised for their beauty as well as for their preservation of Native American traditions, dress, customs, etc. An Oasis in the Badlands, South Dakota depicts Red Hawk (Cheta'-luta), a sub-chief of the Ogalala Sioux, who was born in 1854.


(For Grades 3-6)

How is this picture different from other Native American photographs you have seen? How is it the same?

Why did the photographer choose this side angle? How would it be different if the camera was placed higher? Lower?

Is there anything in the photograph that suggests movement?

(For Grades 9-12)

Should Curtis be considered an ethnographic photographer even though he often had to use props and sometimes asked the Native Americans to change from modern clothes into their traditional attire? Why or why not?

Do you think Curtis’s photographs would have been as effective if there were no props and the subjects wore modern clothing? Why or why not?

Describe three principles of design used in this photograph. How is the composition affected by these principles?