Edward Sheriff Curtis, born in 1868 and died in 1952, was an American ethnologist photographer.

He was one of the leading social anthropologists of Native Americans in North America – and the American West – leaving a record of writings, sound recordings of Indian songs1 and numerous photographs on glass. Thus, in a non-exhaustive way, he undertook a photographic inventory of the 80 existing tribes. This Indian population, which was estimated at over a million in the 18th century, had dropped to around 40,000 by the time he began his project.

Some of his work was published in a twenty-volume work entitled “The North American Indian”, comprising 2,500 photographs, 4,000 pages of text, while in total Curtis took nearly 50,000 photographs. In this life’s work, Edward S. Curtis put his artistic gifts at the service of science, which gives his work not only ethnological but also artistic qualities.

The result is awe-inspiring: his photographs capture the beauty and grandeur of a world that is now mythical. Through his lens, Curtis captured the faces, attitudes, rituals, scenes of daily life and intimacy, as well as the landscapes, living environment and habitat of some eighty tribes. His work is a major part of the history of the native people on American soil, but it is also an event and a first in the history of photography.

This work was exhibited at the Rencontres de la photographie d’Arles festival #Les expositions (France) in 1973: 4th edition.