Assignment 5 The Curtis Brothers Fall 2011

Edward and Asahel Curtis and Western American Photographers
due Monday April 30th

View "Different Lenses: The Photography of Edward and Asahel Curtis" TR652.D54 1996 [VHS]


Optional: The Shadow catcher, Edward S. Curtis and the North American Indian produced and directed by T.C. McLuhan

TR140.C87 1993 [VHS]





1. How did Asahel Curtis make his living as a photographer?

2. What was Edward Curtis's obsession?

3. What was realistic about the photography of both Edward and Asahel Curtis?
Compare them.

4. How did art characterize their approaches to photography?

Compare the 2.


Find another pioneering Western Amercian photographer.

(a few suggestions: Imogen Cunningham, Frank Matsura, Timothy O’Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, Anders Wilse)

1. Who’s the photographer?


2. Significance?

3. Choose a photograph to write a paragraph about.