Edward S. Curtis – “Watching the Dancers” (Hopi)

Updated August 7, 2026

Edward S. Curtis – “Watching the Dancers” (Hopi), 1906Portfolio from The North American Indian, image size approximately 11¼ × 15¼ inches (matches the standard large folio plate size; Getty records the image at roughly 15 5/16 × 11 1/4 in.). This is one of Curtis’s most iconic and widely recognized Hopi images. Four young unmarried Hopi girls (maidens) are shown from behind on the adobe rooftops and steps of Walpi Pueblo (East Mesa, Arizona). They wear traditional holiday dress—white blouses/mantas over dark skirts—and the distinctive “squash-blossom” or butterfly hair whorls that signified maidenhood. They are looking down into the plaza, watching dancers or a ceremony below.Curtis’s own caption noted: “A group of girls on the topmost roof of Walpi Pueblo, looking down into the plaza.” He also commented on the gradual disappearance of the traditional hairstyle under increasing outside influence. The composition is elegant and atmospheric, with the figures silhouetted against the bright sky and the textured adobe architecture in the foreground.

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• 1966 Sixth International Philatelic Exhibition Isu
• 1924 "Gathering Tules - Lake Pomo" Curtis
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