Photos Of Native Americans At IAIS

WASHINGTON — The Institute of American Indian Studies (IAIS) has opened a new exhibition, “Edward S. Curtis: Photographs from The Matus Collection.”

Edward S. Curtis, today one of the most celebrated photographers of Native Peoples, was born in 1868 and died in 1952. In the early 20th Century, with the backing of J.P. Morgan, he started his life’s work, “The North American Indian Project.”

It wasn’t until the late 1960s that his work was rediscovered and appreciated for his historical and cultural perspective of the Native American.

Bernard Matus and his wife, Nancy, started collecting works of Edward S. Curtis approximately 15 years ago. Their collection of 17 photographic images, consisting of tissue and photogravures, represents many different Native American Peoples from 1903 until 1925. These images represent the vintage perspective of the show.

The contemporary perspective of the show includes 34 framed and seven matted images of the Four Corners area of the Southwest that include archeological findings of the ancient Pueblo Peoples and more modern glimpses of the Hopi, Ute, Zuni, and Hawaiian cultures.

Through the use of the computer, the artist is able to use 35 mm negatives to produce digital images and graphic techniques, such as collage, to express a more complex juxtaposition of the historic and contemporary aspects of Native Americans.

The exhibition is on view until August 29.

IAIS is also presenting a collection of objects and art that celebrate the tenacity of Native American peoples whose homelands stretched across the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, some of the coldest and most inhospitable environments on earth. “Northern Hunters and Fishermen: Indigenous Peoples of the Arctic, Sub-Artic and Northwest Coast” is up until August 31.

Museum admission is $4 for adults, $3.50 for seniors, and $2 for children ages 5 to 16. The museum, at 38 Curtis Road, can be contacted by calling 860-868-0518.