Edward Curtis' Amazing Photo Portfolio Documents the History of Native Americans

Lakota Sioux chiefs of the Great Plans, perched atop their horses, wind blowing through the feathers of their headdresses, look positively regal. Crouched in front of a blank screen during a ritual, Nakoaktok dancers in the Pacific Northwest wear grass skirts and long wooden Hamatsa masks that appear to outweigh them in size. Portraits playing with light offer minute details of people from cultures that are now largely extinct.

These are just some of the prints in Edward Sheriff Curtis’s Indians of North America collection, which was later turned into a book.

http://www.realclearlife.com/art/edward-curtis-native-american-photos/