A Moki Beauty - Edward Curtis - U.S.

Edward Sheriff Curtis (born February 16, 1868 in Cold Spring, Wisconsin; died October 19, 1952 in Whittier, California) was an American photographer who spent 30 years of his life portraying the customs and manners of Native Americans of North America.

Edward S. Curtis attempted to photographically depict what he saw as the declining way of life and traditions of numerous Indian tribes. About 40,000 photographs were taken of around 80 tribes. In addition, there were 10,000 language and music recordings as well as numerous biographies. For almost three decades he traveled across North America. In his photographs, Curtis often tried to present the Indians as he imagined them, without the elements of European-American culture. As a child of his time, he succumbed to romantic notions of a vanishing culture and lost sight of the adaptive dynamics and the tenacity with which the depicted people held on to their culture.

A print is offered that was made for the Southwest Museum in Los Angeles. The image shows a photograph of a Moki Indian woman and was taken in 1904.

The image is 25 cm wide and 40 cm high. The frame is 45.5 cm wide and 61 cm high.