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Accepted Paper:
A Third Subject: Anthropology and the Claims of the Aesthetic in Edward Curtis's The North American Indian
Shamoon Zamir
(New York University Abu Dhabi)
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines the relationship of image and text, of photographic pictorialism and ethnography in the work of Edward Curtis. The paper attempts to reassess the place of Curtis's work and of the aesthetic dimension in the early history of visual anthropology.
Paper long abstract:
Edward Curtis created not only one of the largest collections of photographs devoted to a single subject but he and his team also produced what is perhaps the longest ethnographic text in the history of anthropology. And yet this unique combination of image and text has been almost entirely ignored by the growing interest in visual anthropology and its early history. One reason for this may be the aesthetic emphasis of Curtis's image work; another may be his claim that the visual is more than mere illustration for the text or a source of raw data, that it is in fact an equal partner for the textual. This paper tries to suggest a new place for Curtis's combination of art and science within the early history of visual anthropology. The work of A.C. Haddon and his team on the Torres Straits provides a point of comparison.