The beautiful terrains of The North American Indian were presented all summer long at Dubuque Museum of Art in this exhibition of photogravures by Edward S. Curtis. Curtis spent over 30 years photographing members of over 80 North American Indian tribes west of the Mississippi. In the process, he also captured some of the most breathtaking landscapes ever photographed, however Curtis was not a landscape photographer. He was an accomplished portrait photographer. For Curtis’ landscapes we have to look beyond the figures, animals, and dwellings and focus on the beautiful backdrops that steal the scene.

Image: Edward Sheriff Curtis (America, 1868-1952), Cañon de Chelly – Navaho, plate 28, 1904,photogravure on Dutch Van Gelder paper, 11×15 in., gift of Dubuque Cultural Preservation Committee, an Iowa general partnership, consisting of Dr. Darryl K. Mozena, Jeffrey P. Mozena, Mark Falb, Timothy J. Conlon, and Dr. Randy Lengeling, 2009.28