Evanston: epic and immortal
Evanston: epic and immortal
The subtitle of SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER is: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis; and, for once there is no hyperbole. The life was epic and the photographs are immortal.
Although he was sponsored by J.P. Morgan and his family to the amount of $1,500,000, said to be perhaps the equivalent of $50,000,000 in today’s currency, he worked without compensation and lost control of his creations.
Starting almost too late at the beginning of last century, Curtis saw the way of life he was trying to photograph disappear before his eyes. That is not an all bad thing. Last year I read EMPIRE OF THE SUMMER MOON about the Comanche, known as “The Lords of the Plains.” Considered by some military experts to have been the finest light calvary ever, the Comanche were pitiless pillagers, rapists, torturers and slavers. That their way of life vanished was welcomed by all but the Comanche.
We are all Africans.
Some of us walked north and then west into present day Europe; others walked east through Asia, across to Alaska and then south. And some stayed on the continent on which our species first evolved, until those of us who came to America via Europe kidnapped them and brought them over as slaves. We have more in common with the Comanche than we care to acknowledge.
When those of us who left Africa for Europe, left Europe for North America, we brought better weapons, better technology, in time greater numbers, and, most devastatingly, diseases from measles to small pox to which we had developed some resistance, but those so inaccurately called “Indians” had not. The “Indians” didn’t have a chance.
Beyond his service to science, Edward Curtis was a photographer of rare talent, both technically and artistically, a perfectionist. A great quote in the book is from another early American photographer, Alfred Stieglitz, “Nearly right is child’s play.”
All of the photographs from THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN can be viewed online.
If you go to that page, note on the right hand side there are columns for Plates in Volume and for Plates in Portfolio. Some of my favorite images are in the portfolios.
Only a few hundred complete sets of THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN were printed. They now sell at auction for more than a million dollars.
This is Geronimo.
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There are probably many great New Zealand movies, but my favorites are THE PIANO and WHALE RIDER.
Perhaps because I had just finished reading SHORT NIGHTS OF THE SHADOW CATCHER, we watched WHALE RIDER again this weekend. It, too, is about a displaced people and vanishing traditions. An original and beautiful movie that made me nostalgic for that beautiful seagirt country.
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I am out of Laphroaig and have been for three--no, four--days. But who is counting?
Contrary to popular belief this has not resulted in panic or hysteria. In public.
My local supermarket no longer stocks Laphroaig. Even though I may have been the only one buying it, you would think that more than enough to provide a handsome profit.
The nearest liquor store where I can buy my favorite liquid is mile and a half away, but has high prices. The store I prefer is four miles away.
So I went online and found Laphroaig 10 Year from several vendors, mostly in Florida, and at great prices: $35 a bottle, including shipping. Here I pay about $50. I’ll save thousands, I gleefully thought. Well, maybe a few hundred over the course of a year. Their site indicated that Illinois is one of the states to which they can ship. I ordered a case. More than enough to last me until I fly to San Diego on January 10.
Alas. This morning I got a telephone call. The law permits shipping only wine across state lines, not spirits.
I need exercise.
I’ll be walking downtown tomorrow.
Monday, December 17, 2012