Edward S. Curtis: Photographer of His Time Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Melinda Hartline
HARTLINE Communications
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Stephanie Adamo
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The James Museum Presents
Edward S. Curtis: Photographer of His Time, Opening November 8
Landmark Exhibition Offers a Rare Look into Edward S. Curtis Photographs and Includes a
Special Portrait Gallery Installation Focused on the Individuals Who Inspired Curtis Throughout His Career
October 21, 2025 – St. Petersburg, FL – The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art will present Edward S. Curtis: Photographer of His Time from November 8, 2025, through March 29, 2026. The 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 featuring a powerful display of many of the individuals who shaped his vision. The special Portrait Gallery Installation also launches The James Museum’s research initiative to further research and reinterpret his body of work.
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. This landmark exhibition, the first of its kind, reframes Curtis as more than a documentarian. He was also an artist influenced by the major cultural and artistic movements of his era.
Curtis’ early photographs reflect the emotive qualities of Romanticism and Pictorialism, while his later works echo the bold experimentation of Modernism and the grounded realism of Regionalism. Rooted in the Arts & Crafts Movement, his monumental project, The North American Indian, stands as one of the most ambitious publishing efforts in American history, blending artistry and cultural documentation in ways that continue to resonate.
“Edward S. Curtis: Photographer of His Time reexamines Curtis as an artist shaped by the changing world around him,” said Robin Nicholson, Executive Director of The James Museum. “This exhibition launches a larger James Museum initiative to further study and recontextualize his body of work.”
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. This framing provides a richer understanding of the shifting public opinions of the time and deepening recognition of the ways in which artists were responding to these cultural changes.
Complementing the exhibition is the special Portrait Gallery Installation, which shifts attention from the art movements that influenced Curtis to the individuals who shaped his vision. Featuring 84 Native American portraits, approximately one from each Native American tribe Curtis visited as part of his seminal project, The North American Indian, the Portrait Gallery Installation recasts the subjects as active participants and collaborators on Curtis’s massive project. While the sitters have sometimes been cast as bystanders or victims, visitors are reminded of their agency as active and informed participants. The research for the installation, part of the Museum’s broader initiative, focuses on uncovering the identities and stories of sitters whose names were never recorded.
“The Portrait Gallery Installation represents a major undertaking for our team,” said Caitlin Pendola, Associate Curator of The James Museum. “We have researched and compiled information about many of the sitters which I hope provides visitors with a sense of their individualism and role in history.”
The Portrait Gallery Installation extends beyond the gallery walls as an evolving act of recognition. Gallery guides within the space provide information about each portrait. The content invites the viewer to consider the subject’s individuality, honors their agency, and acknowledges their vital role in this significant body of work. Following its debut at The James Museum, the installation will travel as a standalone exhibition with the goal of fully identifying every portrait, a crowdsourcing initiative that will ask the public for help in fully identifying every portrait.
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.
A series of informative and engaging programs accompanies the exhibition, offering visitors deeper insight into Curtis’ work and its reflection of the changing world around him.
Programming begins with a Special Curators’ Talk:
Edward S. Curtis: The Native American Portrait Installation
November 19 @ 6-7 pm
Join the exhibition’s curator Caitlin Pendola and Ernest Gendron, co-curator of the Portrait Installation, for behind-the-scenes insights into their process of humanizing and contextualizing these historic images-from decoding handwritten clues to navigating curatorial choices. Visit the museum’s website for information and to purchase tickets. Space is limited; advance ticket purchase required.
The exhibition is organized by The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art and made possible through presenting sponsorship from Robb &Susan Hough and friend sponsorship from David & Helen Feinberg. For more information on the exhibition and The James Museum, visit thejamesmuseum.org or follow @jamesmuseum on Instagram and Facebook.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Exhibition Dates: Edward S. Curtis: Photographer of His Time will be on view Nov. 8, 2025 – March 29, 2026, at The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art in downtown St. Petersburg.
- Curtis in Context: More than 80 works reveal how Curtis’ photography was shaped by Romanticism, Pictorialism, Modernism and Regionalism, situating him as a modern artist of his time.
- Curtis’ Contemporaries: A selection of works by renowned artists such as Dorothea Lange, Thomas Hart Benton, Paul Strand and Edward Steichen situate Curtis firmly within the broader artistic and cultural movements of his era.
- Powerful Portraits: At the heart of the exhibition is a striking special Portrait Gallery Installation featuring a powerful display of many of the individuals who shaped his vision. This also launches The James Museum’s research initiative to fully identify every portrait.
- Living Legacy: Following its debut, the Portrait Installation will travel nationwide as a standalone exhibition, continuing as a collective act of research and recognition.
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About The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art: The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art provides experiences that inspire human connection and transformation through art depicting the peoples, landscapes, and history of the American West, and wildlife of the world. More than 400 premier works of art, including sculpture, paintings and jewelry are on view in 26,000 square feet of gallery space. The museum engages the community through educational programs and tours, for all ages that bring history to life and amplify voices that are not often at the forefront of mainstream Western art. Established in 2018, The James Museum is a dynamic addition to St. Petersburg’s thriving arts community.