Short nights of the shadow catcher : the epic life and immortal photographs of Edward Curtis

Book

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

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.

Record details

ISBN: 9780544102767
ISBN: 0544102762
Physical Description: 370 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 21 cm
Edition: First Mariner books edition.
Publisher: Boston : Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013, ©2012.
Copyright: ©2012

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Formatted Contents Note:: 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.