Edward S. Curtis (born 1868) was born to Reverend Johnson Curtis in rural Wisconsin. Curtis and his siblings grew up in poverty. The entire family occasionally went for days or even weeks at a time surviving solely on a diet of potatoes. Before Curtis’ 5th birthday, the family moved to rural Cordova, Minnesota. Even though Curtis had some contact with American Indians while growing up in Minnesota, most traditional Indian life there had disappeared by the time his family arrived in the 1870s.
After completing his formal education at age 12, Curtis built himself a camera, using a stereopticon lens his father had brought back from the Civil War. He demonstrated ingenuity, self-direction, and independence that would become the hallmarks of his adult life; he thus unwittingly embarked on his photographic career. Later on in life, Curtis spent a great deal of time reading about and experimenting with photographic ideas and techniques. At seventeen years of age, he moved to St. Paul, MN where he spent time as an apprentice photographer. Soon, he was well versed in the fundamentals of photography and became a dedicated and serious practitioner.
Between 1906 and 1930, he encountered many hardships and endured great personal risk in pursuit of his dream. Not only was he making thousands of negatives throughout Canada and the western United States, but he also acted as a principal publisher, ethnographer, administrator and fundraiser. The intensity with which he pursued his dream had a great toll on his health. He drove himself to the limit for many years and ended up suffering a nervous and physical breakdown in 1930. He died in 1952, essentially unknown and penniless. However, framed Edward S. Curtis art are still found in many art galleries throughout the world.