Short nights of the Shadow Catcher : the epic life and immortal photographs of Edward Curtis / Timothy Egan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Egan, Timothy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Curtis, Edward S., 1868-1952.

Curtis, Edward S.

Photographers--United States--Biography.

Photographers.

Documentary photography.

History.

United States.

Indians of North America--History.

Indians of North America.

Documentary photography--United States--History.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

370 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.

Summary:

"Edward Curtis was dashing, charismatic, a passionate mountaineer, a famous photographer--the Annie Liebowitz of his time. And he was thirty-two years old in 1900 when he gave it all up to pursue his great idea: He would try to capture on film the Native American nation before it disappeared. At once an incredible adventure narrative and a penetrating biographical portrait, Egan's book tells the remarkable untold story behind Curtis's iconic photographs, following him throughout Indian country from desert to rainforest as he struggled to document the stories and rituals of more than eighty tribes. Even with the backing of Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan, it took tremendous perseverance--six years alone to convince the Hopi to allow him into their Snake Dance ceremony. The undertaking changed him profoundly, from detached observer to outraged advocate. He would die penniless and unknown in Hollywood just a few years after publishing the last of his twenty volumes. But the charming rogue with the grade-school education had fulfilled his promise--his great adventure succeeded in creating one of America's most stunning cultural achievements."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

First picture

Encounter on a volcano

The Big Idea

Indian Napoleon

With the President

In the den of the titan

Anglos in Indian country

The artist and his audience

The Custer conundrum

The most remarkable man

On the river of the West

New art forms

Moving pictures

Lost days

Second wind

The longest days

Fight to the finish

Twilight

Revival.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [331]-350) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Burt fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9780618969029

0618969020

OCLC:

666239978