Edward S. Curtis Chronicles Native Nations

Edward S. Curtis Chronicles Native Nations — page 5
Entering the camp Curtis immediately became fascinated by Piegan culture He found all the tribe’s generations from children to grandparents living together in one village Grinnell cautioned him to take plenty of time in getting to know the residents He should also smile a lot to put the Piegans at ease Curtis carefully followed this advice He smiled almost constantly and most of the villagers smiled back DO NOT SAY CHEESE Some of Curtis’s modern critics have pointed out that the smiles and laughter he reported did not come through in his photos of the Piegans and other Natives Curtis is known to have posed his subjects to fit his conception of what Indians should look like Indeed The common theme throughout Edward Curtis’s portraits is stoicism says Cherokee scholar and blogger Adrienne Keene None of his subjects smile Ever Yet To anyone who has spent any time with Indians you know that the stoic Indian stereotype couldn’t be further from the truth Natives joke tease and laugh more than anyone I know I often leave Native events with my sides hurting from laughing so much 6 Curtis eagerly got to know White Calf chief of the Piegans That leader introduced him to other members of the tribe who came to like and trust the young photographer They told him about their lives and were even candid about their recent problems with hunger Their main food source the buffalo was swiftly disappearing from the plains they explained As a result a few years before one-quarter of the tribe had died in a single winter 5 8