PBA Galleries

Image size 39.2x29.2 (15½x11½"), plus margins, sheet size 55.8x45 cm.(22x17½"). Matted.

"This portrait was made in winter while a party of Havasupai were encamped in the high country above their cañon home. As a snowstorm was raging at the time, the woman's hair became dotted with flakes, as the picture reveals." (Curtis). The North American Indian by Edward S. Curtis is one of the most significant and controversial representations of traditional American Indian culture ever produced. Issued in a limited edition from 1907-1930, the publication continues to exert a major influence on the image of Indians in popular culture. Curtis said he wanted to document "the old time Indian, his dress, his ceremonies, his life and manners." In over 2000 photogravure plates and narrative, Curtis portrayed the traditional customs and lifeways of eighty Indian tribes. The twenty volumes, each with an accompanying portfolio, are organized by tribes and culture areas encompassing the Great Plains, Great Basin, Plateau Region, Southwest, California, Pacific Northwest, and Alaska.