Claude Levi-Stauss
Claude Levi-Strauss, the French anthropologist, ethnologist and philosopher generally acknowledged as the founder of structuralist thinking, described his encounters with the Indians of Brazil in his works which today are recognised as classics of ethnology: La Pensée Sauvage (The Savage Mind, 1960) and Tristes Tropiques (A World on the Wane, 1955). Claude Levi-Strauss celebrates his 100th birthday this year and provides the opportunity to offer a selection of images from the world of the Indians in a far wider context: images not only of Brazilian Indians but also of North American Indians, illustrating the dreams that these devastated tribes still represent and still have to offer to Westerners.
In 2005 Claude Levi-Straus was already sounding a more pessimistic note, warning us that: "What I see is the devastation being wreaked today. It is not a world I like".
