Edward Sheriff Curtis Enter a
feeling, not
a gallery.
Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
Edward Sheriff Curtis
Early Life and Photographic Beginnings Born: February 16, 1868, Whitewater, Wisconsin Parents: Asahel "Johnson" Curtis (Reverend, farmer, Civil War veteran) and Ellen Sheriff. Siblings: Raphael, Edward, Eva, and Asahel Curtis. Early hardships due to his father's struggles led the family to relocate to Minnesota. Left school in the sixth grade but demonstrated an early interest in photography, building his own camera. Appren
ticed as a photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1885. Moved to Seattle, Washington, in 1887 and established photographic studios, initially partnering with Rasmus Rothi and later Thomas Guptill. The North American Indian Project Genesis: Inspired by his early portraits of Native Americans like Princess Angeline (Kickisomlo), Curtis embarked on a monumental project to document the cultures and traditions of Indigenous peoples…