Tinted Light: Edward Curtis’s Picture Opera

(Image of Kwakiutil Village 1914)

This special exhibition features the hand-tinted slides created by photographer Edward Curtis to promote his life work, the 20-volume North American Indian. Curtis was a Seattle-based photographer most known for his striking portraits of indigenous peoples. His photography and ethnographical team’s research led to a massive record of numerous tribes throughout the North American continent. Few people know that Curtis did not get paid for his work, aside from what he could raise via these subscriptions. His “picture opera” was designed to give a glimpse into the project and secure would-be subscribers. Today, these slides remain some of the only color versions of Curtis’s noted black and white images.