James Museum Exhibit: Edward S. Curtis Photographer of His Time

The James Museum special exhibition Edward S. Curtis: Photographer of His Time

On View: Now - March 29, 2026 (included with admission)

Curated by James Museum Associate Curator Caitlin Pendola, this landmark exhibition offers a rare look at Curtis’ work, tracing his three-decade photographic career alongside broader shifts in American art. At the heart of the exhibition is a striking special Portrait Gallery Installation co-curated by Pendola and Manager of Adult Learning Ernest Gendron, featuring a powerful display of many of the individuals who shaped his vision.

Curtis (1858-1952), an American photographer and ethnologist, is best known for his extensive photographic record of Native American cultures documented in his prodigious early 20th-century publication, The North American Indian. His early photographs reflect the emotive qualities of Romanticism and Pictorialism, while later works echo the bold experimentation of Modernism and the grounded realism of Regionalism.

Visitors will encounter Curtis’ work in conversation with artwork by his contemporaries—including Dorothea Lange, Thomas Hart Benton and Edward Steichen—that situate him firmly within the broader artistic and cultural movements of his era.

With works drawn from the museum’s Robb and Susan Hough Edward S. Curtis Collection and complemented by loans from museums, private collections, and foundations nationwide, the exhibition features more than 160 pieces within the 2 sections of the exhibition.

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