The great warriors

The indelible portraits of Native Americans by Edward S. Curtis, made at the dawn of the twentieth century, have become among the most avidly collected, published, and sought-after emblems of early encounters with American Indian life. And yet existing publications have just begun to suggest the extent of this remarkable photographic achievement. This book, the first in a series that will take an in-depth look at many of the subjects dearest to Curtis, collects one hundred of his most compelling photographs of tribal leaders and warriors. Some 40 percent of the photographs presented here are either very little known or previously unpublished. The large-format portraits in this book, primarily of men of the Plains and Southwest (for which Curtis had a special affinity), are drawn from more than two thousand photographs in Curtis' masterwork The North American Indian, as well as rare prints from the private collection of Christopher Cardozo, who provides a compelling essay here. Additional texts by Hartman Lomawaima, of the Hopi Nation, and Anne Makepeace, director of an Academy Award-nominated film about Curtis and his lasting impact, provide new insights into the photographs that form the most comprehensive record of the native peoples of North America from the dawn of the twentieth century. - Jacket flap.