Monday, December 17, 2012

I recently finished reading "Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis" by Timothy Egan. It was a really great read about an amazingly adventurous and dedicated man; a man obsessed by his quest to photograph all native tribes in North America and complete his 20 volume book set "The North American Indian". Curtis' photographs were at times posed and always portrayed what Curtis considered to be the "authentic" native, both of which have made his work somewhat controversial in recent years. But what is not often know is how much time and effort Curtis also put into recording the native languages, songs, myths and other cultural elements that were fast fading from practice and memory. If you were able to catch the Curtis exhibit at the McCord Museum you may be interested in reading about the man behind the images.