Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
2004
Abstract
Mick Gidley is without a doubt the primary advocate of Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952) . As a photographer of North American Indians in the early twentieth century, Curtis produced work that needs an advocate since it is often viewed today as fake, exploitative, and thus controversial. Curtis's magnum opus, The North American Indian (1907-1930), is a remarkable collection of images, some posed, some manipulated, some art, some ethnographic, some nostalgic, some realistic, but always compelling. Because of the widespread interest in Curtis, Gidley's current publication, drawing on an assortment of unpublished reports, letters, field notes, and little known newspaper and magazine articles, will be read with great interest, as well it should.
Comments
Published in Great Plains Quarterly 24:4 (Fall 2004). Copyright © 2005 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.