Customer Reviews

Native Americans (TASCHEN Icons Series)

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This little book is a great photographic journey through the Indian/Native American tribes, ranging from the Apaches to the Klamaths to the Hopis. The portraits are magnificent and totally historic, and the photos of the women and children are so noteworthy. If you mentioned early, authentic photographers of the tribes, the name Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) would surely emerge. His own photo makes him appear rustic and tough, and in the same vein as a real Indiana Jones. I was particularly impressed with the photos of the warrior Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce, and the fully decorated Wishram bride of 1910. You can easily see that the women of the tribe went to great lengths with the beads, necklaces, headbands and her dress, to make her the most beautiful bride possible and an obvious credit to her clan. Anyone studying American history should add this one to his/her library.

Whenever I read something that labels our Native women as "squaws," I think whoever wrote it has "heap little brains".

Edward Curtis made many beautiful pictures of Natives. However, he was also the prototype of today's Photoshoppers, heavily staging and retouching his pictures of Natives. So while his pictures are often beautiful, they should not be taken as photojournalism or documentary. They should just be viewed for their artistic and technical value, I think.

But the "squaw" writing? It should have been left in the 19th century, not brought into the 21st.