1904-1924: The life of North American Indians in photographs by Edward Curtis

Born on a farm in Wisconsin in 1868, Edward Sheriff Curtis worked as a photographer in Seattle. In 1895, he photographed Princess Angelina, the eldest daughter of Seattle, the leader of the Suquomish tribe, after whom the city was named. This meeting had such an impact on Curtis that he became interested in the culture of Indian tribes for the rest of his life.

Soon Edward joined the expedition to see with his own eyes how Native Americans live in Alaska and Montana.

In 1906, Curtis met the wealthy financier J. P. Morgan, who began sponsoring a documentary project about the indigenous peoples of the continent. They decided to create a 20-volume series called "North American Indians".

Thanks to Morgan's support, Curtis traveled all over North America for 20 years, taking about 40 thousand pictures of Indians from more than 80 different tribes. He recorded their songs and languages on thousands of wax cylinders, as well as documented oral stories, legends and biographies.

In his efforts to fix the disappearing lifestyle, Curtis sometimes sinned with the documentary authenticity of images. The characters of his photographs appear in the romanticized forms of an imaginary pre-Columbian era and are completely devoid of signs of Western civilization.

Curtis's works, which perpetuated the mythical image of the "noble savages", are among the most impressive historical records of Indian life in the early twentieth century.

1904. A group of Navajo Indians in Canyon de Shay, Arizona.

1905. The leaders of the Sioux nation.

1908. Mother and child from the Apsaroke tribe.

1907. Luzi is from the Papago tribe.

1914. A woman of the Kwagul tribe in a chilkat blanket with a fringe and a mask of a deceased shaman relative.

1914. Hakalahl, chief of the Nakoaktok tribe.

1910. An Indian of the Kwakiutl people collects shellfish in Washington.

1910. Girls from the Piegan tribe collect goldenrod.

1907. A girl from the Kahatika tribe.

1910. A young Indian from the Apache tribe.

1903. Escadi from the Apache tribe.

1914. Kwakiutl Indians in a canoe in British Columbia.

1914. Kwakiutl Indians in a canoe in British Columbia.

1914. The Kwakiutl Indians arrived at the wedding in a canoe.

1914. A Kwakiutl shaman performs a religious ritual.

1914. A Koskimo Indian dressed as a Hami monster during the Numlim ceremony.

1914. A dancer from the Quagul tribe in the clothes of Paqusilahl ("wild forest man").

1914. A Quagul Indian dressed as a bear.

1914. Dancers from the Quagul tribe.

1914. Dancers from the Nakoaktok tribe wearing Hamatz masks during the ritual.

1910. An Apache Indian.

1907. The Hollow Horn bear from the Brule tribe.

1906. A girl from the Teva tribe.

1910. An Apache woman reaps grain.

1924. A Mariposa Indian on the Thule Reservation River.

1908. An Indian from the Hidatsa tribe with an eagle.

1910. An Indian from the Nootka people aims a bow.

1910. Wigwams of the Piegan tribe.

1905. A hunter from the Sioux tribe.

1914. A shaman from the Kwakiutl tribe.

1914. An Indian from the Kwakiutl tribe, wearing a mask depicting the transformation of a man into a loon.

1908. An Apsaroke Indian on horseback.

1923. The chief of the Klamath tribe stands on a hill above a lake in Crater, Oregon.

1900. Iron Chest, a Piegan Indian.

1908. Black Eagle, an Assiniboine Indian.

1904. A Navajo Indian.

1914. An Indian from the Kwakiutl tribe in the garb of the forest spirit Nuhlimkilaka ("Bearer of confusion").

1923. A woman from the Hupa tribe.

1914. An Indian from the Tsawatenok tribe.

1900. The leaders of the Piegans.

1910. An Indian from the Jicarilla tribe.

1905. A Hopi girl.

1910. A girl from the Jikarilla tribe.

1903. A woman from the Zuni tribe.

1905. Yahla, also known as Willow, from the Taos Pueblo Indian settlement.

1907. A woman from the Papago tribe.

1923. A fisherman from the Hupa tribe with a spear waits for salmon.

1907. A woman from the Maricopa tribe.

1905. A boy from the Tewa tribe in the settlement of San Ildefonso Pueblo.

1907. A woman from the Maricopa tribe.

1908. A shaman from the Apsaroke tribe.

1924. A woman from the Cahuilla tribe.

1910. Daughter of the chief of the tribe of the Kwakiutl people.

1910. A duck hunter from the Kootenai tribe.

1908. A medical crow from the Apsaroke tribe.

1910. A girl from the Vishram tribe.

1904. A Navajo medicine man.

1910. The Quagul Indians dance during the eclipse, seeking to restore the moon.