"Edward S. Curtis: Photographer of his Time"

 

    The James Museum, our favorite museum in Florida, has mounted another great exhibition this winter, through March 29, 2026, that is a must-see for anyone interested in American art, history, and photography.  ( Exhibit Website )  Its subject is the work of Edward S. Curtis (1868-1952), a photographer and ethnologist who made it his life work to document what he, and the rest of the world, believed were the last days of Native Americans.  By the end of the 19th century, Native Americans had been totally broken.  Survivors of disease, starvation and decades of warfare had been forced onto bleak reservations, their cultures and spirits shattered.  It seemed that the entire race was entering its last days; the "end of the trail" became a common and symbolic motif among writers and artists.  Curtis began traveling throughout the American West in the 1890s, photographing Native Americans as they lived their daily lives.  Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, he had the idea to publish a thorough and complete set of books permanently recording for posterity as many of the surviving tribes and their cultures as he could before they disappeared forever.  The books would be of the highest quality and include the best reproductions of his photos, and its price would be high.  Finally, twenty volumes were published over decades, and the work consumed Curtis' life.  

One of the volumes on display

    Curtis' photos, and his ethnologies, became an invaluable resource, a cultural treasure, even though his ethnologies contain some errors and misinterpretations.  His photos have been reproduced repeatedly in books and as art.  Here, the James Museum curator Caitlin Pendola and co-curator Ernest Gendron have assembled an exhibition that not only documents Curtis' career, but it also illustrates how his work changed and evolved over time, reflecting new art movements and attitudes.  The exhibition also brilliantly pairs some of his photos with works by some of his contemporaries like Dorothea Lange, Thomas Hart Benton, and Matisse.  Viewers can see the similarities, and it's like the works are engaged in conversation with each other.

    Students of history will recognize many of the photos in the exhibit as prints often used in books and documentaries.

    The exhibition also includes a special gallery of portraits taken by Curtis.  One portrait is chosen to represent each of the 84 tribes or communities that Curtis documented in his 20 volumes.  They are remarkable portraits.  Displayed on four walls in one small space, the photos dispel the monolithic view of "Native Americans" as a homogenous culture.   The viewer sees the many differences in physical appearance and in culture that actually existed among the hundreds of tribes that were present in North America in the past.  Beyond that, the viewer sees individual human beings, each with his or her won story.  

    Curtis' photos of objects are often as engaging and beautiful as his portraits of people, outstanding works of art.

    Another great exhibit, further establishing the James as a great museum!

"In Caravaggio's Light"

 

    Until March 22, 2026, St. Petersburg's Museum of Fine Arts ( https://mfastpete.org/exhibition/in-caravaggios-light/ ) is hosting an exhibition of some forty Baroque paintings from the Roberto Longhi Foundation in Florence, Italy.  Longhi was a 20th century art collector and critic, an expert on Baroque art and especially on the life and work of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, famously known by one name, Caravaggio.  It's the first time that this collection has been exhibited together in the United States. 

    Caravaggio (1571-1610) is easily the most famous artist of the Baroque period.  The Baroque period was from approximately 1600 to 1740, and it was often sponsored by and endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church as a reaction to the Protestant Reformation.  Church officials sought to win back wayward souls from the growing Protestant sects which favored plainness and austerity, rejecting the over-the-top ornate opulence favored in Catholic churches.  Catholic officials used drama and emotion in art to stir feelings and emotions, not just intellect, often depicting the most intense moments of passion and trauma in  the Bible and in Catholic history.  Church officials and Catholic royals saw art as propaganda, a means to win and keep  their subjects' faith, and to keep it Catholic.  Baroque paintings are often large in scale, employ swirling forms and diagonal lines to impart the illusion of motion, making the scenes dynamic and exciting.  Baroque painters like Caravaggio became masters at using chiaroscuro, contrasting bright light and dark shadow to create focus and theatricality.  Realism and naturalism are also hallmarks of Baroque painting.  The humans and animals look like real people and animals, even in religious scenes.  Fleshtones are so  lifelike and realistic that the subjects seem like warm, living people.  The realism could be a bit too much at times, however.  Caravaggio's critics often fixated on the graphic violence and bloodletting that he  painted when he depicted the gruesome martyrdom of various saints and Old testament stories,  like Judith beheading Holofernes.  Caravaggio was not of sterling character himself inn the eyes of Church and civic officials.  He spent much of his short adult life trying to evade arrest and warrants that followed him from city to city.  He often engaged in violent brawls, associated with vicious gangs and prostitutes, and was even charged with murder.  Although his cause of death has been mysterious ever since it occurred, it is likely that he died as a result of a physical attack in Naples.

    There are only two Caravaggio paintings in the exhibit.  The rest were all painted by followers of Caravaggio.  They can't really be called students or be said to be of the "Caravaggio school," because Caravaggio was too busy brawling, insulting, and painting on the lam to ever take on apprentices, but their work reflects his style.  His influence continued long after his death, and it still continues.  The Museum of Fine Arts paired this exhibition with a very interesting collection of works from their own collection, reaching all the way into the 21st century, that echo elements of Caravaggio's work. 

    If you find yourself visiting St. Petersburg this winter, a visit to the Museum of Fine Arts is a must.

"Boy Bitten By Lizard"  and "Boy Peeling a Fruit" (one of his very early works)