Edward Curtis

This exhibition has ended.

Born on February 16, 1868, in Whitewater, Wisconsin, Edward Curtis became interested in photography at an early age and particularly enjoyed photographing Native North Americans. In 1906, he undertook a large-scale project viewed by many as excessively ambitious: he set out photograph North American Aboriginal peoples in order to document their way of life before it disappeared forever, as was the thinking at the time. In 1930, he completed his work, entitled The North American Indian. It is estimated that Curtis took some 40,000 photographic images of members of 80 tribes.

The final 20-volume encyclopedic work also included 2,200 illustrations and accompanying texts. With its exhibition, the McCord Museum offers a selection of photogravures taken from these volumes.