Edward S. Curtis: The One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary

Exhibition Proposal

An Oasis in the Badlands , 1905

EdwardS.Curtis

The One Hundred And Fiftieth Anniversary

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

Concept

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Curtis Biography

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Sacred Legacy

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Dates and Details of Tour

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Length of Exhibition

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Operational Costs

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Catalogue

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Contents

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Previous Exhibition History

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Organizational Body

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Curatorial Policy

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Curator

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Selected Images

Foundation for the

Todd Brandow, Executive Director

Exhibition of Photography

brandowtodd@gmail.com

5028 Washburn Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55410 www.fep-photo.org

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Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Concept The “One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary” Exhibition, is an extraordinary selection of vintage photographs by Edward S. Curtis,

highlighting both iconic and previously little known images, the majority printed in Curtis’ rarest and most compelling processes.

The prints are among the nest examples that exist and, in some cases, are the only known example of a particular image. Every style subject matter, cultural/geographic area, and medium Curtis worked in will be included. . Many of the prints have an important provenance: Edward Curtis’ personal collection, important exhibition and publication histories, and all will be drawn from signi cant collections built over the past forty years.

The “One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary” Exhibition will be the largest and most broad-ranging Curtis exhibition in history.

The Exhibition will showcase prints created in seven di erent photographic print mediums and will be complemented by objects and other ephemera that will both contextualize and enrich the A Navaho Child, 1903

masterworks. The di erent print mediums include photogravure, platinum, goldtone, toned and un-toned gelatin silver, cyanotype, and gold-toned printing-out paper prints. Approximately 98% of extant Curtis prints were made in the photogravure process.

Virtually all previous exhibitions of Curtis’ vintage photographs comprised only the photogravure prints. For the rst time in over a century the majority of the photographs in this Exhibition will be the rarer, seldom seen, mediums most prised by connoisseurs. Aesthetically the prints will be of a consistently high level, heretofore unseen in vintage Curtis exhibitions, and rarely seen in exhibitions of photographs from that era.

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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“I like a man who attempts the impossible” —J.P. Morgan

Curtis Biography Edward Curtis was born in 1868 and grew up in abject poverty in rural Minnesota. He built his first camera at age twelve, thus unwittingly embarking on a lifelong photographic career. In 1887, Curtis moved to the Pacific Northwest where he quickly positioned himself as Seattle’s foremost studio photographer. This success gave him the freedom to pursue his love of the great outdoors and this activity brought him into contact with small groups of Native Americans who were still living somewhat traditional lives.

By 1900 these experiences had led Curtis to embark-upon an undertaking that would consume him for the next thirty years. This project was the creation of his magnum opus, “The North American Indian”, a twenty-volume, twenty-portfolio set of handmade books. Each set contains over 2,200 original photographs, plus extensive text, along with transcriptions of language and music. It is difficult to overestimate the enormity of Curtis’s task and achievement. The project involved over one hundred artisans, translators, sales sta , logistical support, field assistants, accountants, etc. It is estimated that 10,000 Native Americans also participated in the realization of this thirty-year endeavor. In today’s dollars it was an approximately $35,000,000 publishing project, unparalleled in American publishing history.

While “The North American Indian” is an inestimable contribution to the world of art, photography, ethnography, and fine bookmaking, the project nearly killed Curtis. He lost his family, his money, and his health and by 1930 he was a broken man. While he lived out the rest of his life in obscurity, he left us with a sacred legacy that surely will endure for many, many years to come.

Edward S. Curtis Self Portrait , 1899

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Kotsuis and hohhug - Nakoaktok , 1914

Sacred Legacy Another goal of this exhibition is to honor and celebrate Native creator. Today this work stands as a landmark in the history of peoples: their lives, their history and their culture. Over one

photography, book publishing, ethnography, and the American

hundred years ago, Curtis set out on a monumental quest to

West. Viewed in its entirety, Curtis’ work presents an historical

make an unprecedented, comprehensive record of the North

record of enormous importance.

American Indian. He produced 40,000-50,000 photographs of Native peoples. Curtis’ core mission was to safeguard and

Perhaps the most important legacy of Curtis’ monumental

preserve their ‘sacred legacy’ for future generations by creating a

accomplishment is the expression of an extraordinary and deeply

permanent record of their lives in photographs, film, sound, and

felt empathy and understanding of the personal, emotional, and

text. This was a highly collaborative process in which the Native

spiritual lives of the American Indian. The work’s core message is

people were active participants and co-creators. They shared

one of beauty, heart and spirit. In these respects, this collaborative

their religion, mythology, personal histories in ways that were body of work is unique and unparalleled. It is a deeply human story unprecedented. Curtis was a witness, messenger, and equal co-

which has touched people around the globe.

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Kwakiutl House Frame, 1914

Dates and Details of Tour

Length of Exhibition

The tour will begin in the United States in 2018 and continue

Ten weeks (may be extended depending upon scheduling

to travel through 2020. The exhibition will be limited to four

requirements of the participating museums and the overall tour).

venues in the Americas, two in Asia and two in Europe.

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Operational Costs Participation fee is US$40,000, plus a prorata share of transportation and insurance costs. Travel expenses and a modest per diem will be expected for the curator and director of the proje c t to a tte nd the ope ning a nd a s s is t with ins ta lla tion.

Catalogue A comprehensive, high-quality, hardbound catalogue will be created

by Delmonico Books/Prestel Verlag to accompany the exhibition.

The catalogue will include state-of-the-art reproductions of all images in the exhibition as well as complementary images of Curtis photographs, ephemera, and related objects. The catalogue will also include essays by four noted writers. Production values will be of the highest order.

Contents The heart of the exhib e ibition is 200-250 framed vintage Bear’s Belly - Arikara , 1908

Curtis photographs plus related objects and ephemera. Film footage, video, and projected imagery will also be included.

A special presentation illuminating the environmental messages inherent in Curtis’ images will also be included.

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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A Mono Home, 1924

Organizational Body

Director of the project

This exhibition will be produced and toured under the auspices

Todd Brandow is the founding Executive Director of the Foundation

of the American non-profit organization, the Foundation for the

for the Exhibition of Photography, celebrating its tenth anniversary in

Exhibition of Photography (FEP), Minneapolis/Paris/Lausanne.

2013. He has been based in Paris since 1997, working during that time as a photography curator, foundation director and book publisher.

Curatorial Policy In addition to the FEP Curators, the Foundation engages distinguished outside curators and historians for its projects. Among past and current contributors are: Tobia Bezzola (current director of the Folkwang Museum), Carol Squiers (International Center of Photography), Joan Simon (Curator-at-large at the Whitney Museum), Patterson Sims (former deputy director of MoMA), Barbara Hitchcock (former curator of the Polaroid Collection) and A.D. Coleman (independent critic/author).

He co-produced and co-curated the above-mentioned Edward S. Curtis exhibition tours. He co-curated a retrospective tour of Finnish photographer Arno Rafael Minkkinen with critic A. D. Coleman and cocurated with William Ewing and Nathalie Herschdorfer three exhibitions on Edward Steichen. Projects recently produced include the first major thematic show independently curated from the Condé Nast Archive, “Coming into Fashion”; an Arnold Newman retrospective, co-produced with the Harry Ransom Center; and a Lorna Simpson exhibition coproduced with the Jeu de Paume. Projects in development include a major survey on Polaroid with the MIT Museum and a contemporary photography exhibition on adolescence.

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Kutenai Duck Hunter, 1910

Curator

Curator

William Ewing is a well-known curator and writer on photography. Christopher Cardozo is widely acknowledged as the world’s He worked as the Director of Exhibitions from 1977 to 1984 at the

leading authority on the great photographer, Edward S. Curtis.

International Center of Photography, NY, and was the Director of

Cardozo began collecting Curtis’ artwork forty years ago. He

the Musée de l’Elyée, Lausanne, for fteen years. His exhibitions

first discovered the work of Edward Curtis in 1973 after a friend

have been shown at many museums in America and Europe,

saw Cardozo’s own sepia-toned photographs of Native people.

Including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centre

Cardozo had just spent six months living in a very isolated tribal

Pompidou, Paris; the Hayward Galleryand the Serpentine Gallery,

village where he made over 10,000 negatives, created film footage,

London; the Kunsthaus Zurich; and the Montreal Museum of Fine

and made sound recordings of language and music. Today he

Arts. His recent books include The Century of the Body, the Body,

is both owner and curator of the Christopher Cardozo/Edward

and Erwin Blumenfeld, as well as co-authoring Edward Steichen:

S. Curtis Collection, the worlds’ largest and most broad-ranging

Lives in Photography and Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, the

collection of the photographer’s work. Cardozo is the author of

Conde Nast Years 1923-1937. Current curatorial projects include

eight monographs on Edward Curtis. He has curated one-person

other collaborative e orts with FEP, “Arnold Newman: Masterclass”

Curtis exhibitions that have been seen in nearly one hundred

and “The Polaroid Project”

venues in over forty countries across six continents.

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

Selected Images

Geronimo - Apache , 1905

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Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Puget Sound Baskets , 1912

Original Curtis Picture Musicale Poster Vintage Curtis Studio Sticker

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Shot in the Hand - Apsaroke , 1908

Hashogan-Navaho, 1904

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Tapa “Antelope Water”-Taos, 1903

Housetop Life, 1906

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

Waiting in the Forest - Cheyenne, 1910

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Untitled (Moki Girl and Jar)

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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Woman and Child - Nunivak, 1930

The Medicine Man - HastobĂŽga , 1904

Qahatika Girl, 1907

Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography EdwardS.Curtis

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“It’s such a big dream, I can’t see it all” —Edward S. Curtis

Cañon de Chelly - Navaho , 1904

Foundation for the

Todd Brandow, Executive Director

Exhibition of Photography

brandowtodd@gmail.com

5028 Washburn Avenue South Minneapolis, MN 55410 www.fep-photo.org