Kwakiutl Mask

Edward Curtis was an American photographer who documented Native American tribes across North America from 1906 to 1930, producing over 40,000 images in photogravure and platinum print, many hand-tinted. His monumental twenty-volume publication The North American Indian established a visual archive of indigenous cultures during rapid social change, combining anthropological scope with pictorialist aesthetics. Curtis employed soft focus and tonal manipulation characteristic of early twentieth-century artistic practice, capturing portraits, ceremonies, and daily life across more than eighty tribes.