Edward Curtis/William Henry Jackson Edward Sheriff Curtis

Edward Curtis/William Henry Jackson Edward Sheriff Curtis was an American photographer who lived from 1868 to 1952. He was born near Whitewater, Wisconsin to a minister father who was also a Civil War veteran. When Curtis was six-years-old the family moved to Minnesota where he soon constructed his own camera with the help of Wilson's Photographics, a popular manual of the time (Flury & Co., Ltd.). By the age of 17, Curtis was an apprentice photographer in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Two years later, the family moved once again, but this time to the Pacific Northwest. In the 1890s, Curtis started to take pictures of local Native Americans. Curtis was an avid nature lover and spent most of his time outdoors taking pictures. He was especially fond of the slopes of Mount Ranier (Flury & Co., Ltd.). William Henry Jackson is one of the most famous 19th century landscape photographers of the American West. He lived from 1843 to 1942 and is known for his great love of the outdoors.

His career as a photographer began in New York in 1858 as a photographic retouching artist but traveled extensively to Omaha, Nebraska with his field work as the official photographer with Ferdinand Vandeever Hayden's U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories, as well as to Denver, Colorado and travels to Asia with the World Transportation Commission among others (BYU). Jackson ended his career in New York, where it started and where he died at the age of 99.

Both Jackson's and Curtis's lives spanned the first century of the new visual art of photography. Curtis's photograph entitled "Quilcene Boy," a head and shoulders portrait of a child that was photographed in 1912/1913 portrays what seems to be a very confused (scared as well perhaps) young boy. He doesn't gaze into the camera so much as gaze at the photographer, which leaves a very unsettling feeling.

This photograph is different in tone and style from some of Curtis's other photographs -- for example, "Sioux Chiefs" (1905), "Oasis in the Badlands" (1905), "White Shield" (1908), and "Nez Perce Warrior on Horse" (1910). These photographs portray chiefs and warriors on horseback (except for "White Shield," which is a portrait of a chief). These photographs depict the Native Americans in very brave ways.

The photographs also show the individuals at peace within their environment -- especially in the photograph entitled "Oasis in the Badlands." The following photographs taken by Jackson, "Pawnee Scouts" (1868-1871), "Petalesharo II" (1871), and "Group of Pawnee Chiefs" (1871) depict the Native Americans in different ways. In the first photograph, "Pawnee Scouts," Jackson has four Pawnee men seated in line, each one holding an axe of some sort. Behind them stands a white man in a shirt and bowtie, with some kind of shawl strewn in front of him.

It is not clear who the white man in the photograph is. The photograph is haunting. Most of the men are peering straight into the camera, except for one in the middle who seems to be looking off towards the left of the camera. The reason for the haunting quality is the white man standing behind them.

There is something disconcerting in that the photograph seems forced and that there is some kind of statement about the fact that all of the Pawnee men are unclothed on top while the white man stands behind them in a bow tie. It definitely shows the differences in culture, however, there is something rather frightening about the photograph. Perhaps it is because it seems like these men are being exploited by the white man.

In "Petalesharo II," photographed in 1871, a chief stands with a long headdress on some sort of step or deck. This photograph is also unsettling. While the chief himself looks quite proud and brave, there is something about the picture that looks like he is posing but feeling very self-conscious about it. Perhaps because, unlike Curtis's photographs, the men are out of their element, away from nature. This picture of a chief standing on what looks to be the deck of a house seems in some way out of time.

The same holds true for the photograph entitled "Groups of Pawnee Chiefs." Again, the men are standing in front of the same house and now it appears that what the chief was standing in front of was a front door as in this photograph the layout of the house is clearer. In this picture, two men are seated, flanking the sides of the step while three men stand up behind them in a line.

The man in the middle wears a tall head piece that appears to be some kind of antlers. The other men wear feathers in their hair. Again, from the expression on the men's faces, it seems that they are being forced to stand there like they are some funfair attraction. It really is disconcerting to see the juxtaposition between their traditional dress, makeup and accessories and the white house with the white curtains covering the window.

Jackson has placed some type of fur covering on the steps where they are sitting/standing in order to give the photograph a more authentic feel perhaps. "La Veta Pass" and "Man with Mule" are very different types of.