W. Eugene Smith

William Eugene Smith (1918-1978) was an American photojournalist known for his refusal to compromise professional standards and his brutally vivid World War II photographs.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, Smith graduated from Wichita North High School in 1936. He began his career by taking pictures for two local newspapers, the "Eagle" (morning circulation) and the "Beacon" (evening circulation). He went to New York City and began work for "Newsweek" and became known for his incessant perfectionism and thorny personality. Smith was fired from "Newsweek" for refusing to use medium format cameras and joined "Life Magazine" in 1939. He soon resigned from "Life" and was wounded in 1942 while simulating battle conditions for "Parade" magazine.

As a correspondent for Ziff-Davis Publishing and then "Life" again, Smith entered World War II on the front lines of the island-hopping American offensive against Japan, photographing U.S. Marines and Japanese prisoners of war at Saipan, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. On Okinawa, Smith was hit by mortar fire. After recovering, Smith continued at "Life" and perfected the photo essay from 1947 to 1954. In 1950, he was sent to the United Kingdom to cover the General Election, in which the Labor Party (UK), under Clement Attlee, was narrowly victorious. "Life" had actually taken an editorial stance against the Labor government, but Smith's essay was very sympathetic to Attlee. In the end, a limited number of Smith's photographs of working-class Britain were published, including three shots of the South Wales valleys. In a documentary made by BBC Wales, Professor Dai Smith traced a miner who described how he and two colleagues had met Smith on their way home from work at the pit and had been instructed on how to pose for one of the photos [ [http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_miners_full.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith ] ] published in "Life".

Smith severed his ties with "Life" again over the way in which the magazine used his photographs of Albert Schweitzer. Upon leaving Life, Smith joined the Magnum photo agency in 1955. There he started his project to document Pittsburgh. This project consisted of a series of book-length photo essays in which he strove for complete control of his subject matter. Complications from his consumption of drugs and alcohol led to a massive stroke, from which Smith died in 1978.

Smith was perhaps the originator and arguably the master of the photo-essay. In addition to Pittsburgh, these works include Nurse Midwife, Minamata, Country Doctor, and Albert Schweitzer - A Man of Mercy.

Today, Smith's legacy lives on through the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund [ [http://www.smithfund.org/aboutfund/overview Eugene Smith Fund | Overview ] ] to promote "humanistic photography." Since 1980, the fund has awarded photographers for exceptional accomplishments in the field.

Notable photographs

*(1944) photograph [ [http://www.alderart.com/secondarypic/w%20%20eugene%20smith.htm W EUGENE SMITH vintage photograph soldier with baby Alder Gallery Fine Art and Eugene Glass School 's Glass Galleries are proud to present original works in glass oil painting... ] ] in which a wounded infant is found by an American soldier on Saipan
*(1945) photograph [ [http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_demolition_full.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith ] ] in which Marines blow up a Japanese cave on Iwo Jima, published on the cover of Life Magazine, April 9, 1945
*"The Walk to Paradise Garden" [ [http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_children_walking_full.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith ] ] (1946) single photo of his two children walking hand in hand towards a clearing in woods. It was the closing image in the groundbreaking 1955 MOMA exhibition, "The Family of Man," [ [http://www.luxembourg.co.uk/clervaux.html Luxembourg Tourist Office in London - Clervaux ] ] organized by Edward Steichen with 503 photogaphs, by 273 photographers from 68 countries, that he recognized as picturing "the essential oneness of mankind throughout the world [showing] the gamut of life from birth to death."
*"Country Doctor" [ [http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_country_doctor_surgery_full.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith ] ] (1948) photo essay on Dr. Ernest Ceriani in the small Colorado town of Kremmling. Credited as the first "photo story" of the modern photojournalism age.
*"Spanish Village" [ [http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_guardia_civil_full.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith ] ] (1950) photo essay on the small Spanish town of Deleitosa.
*"Nurse Midwife" (1951) photo essay on midwife Maude Callen in South Carolina.
*"A Man of Mercy" [ [http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_schweitzer_full.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith ] ] (1954) photo essay on Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his humanitarian work in French Equatorial Africa.
*"Pittsburgh" [ [http://masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_pittsburgh_factory_full.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith ] ] (1955) year-long project on the city, hired initially by photo editor Stefan Lorant for a three-week assignment.
*"Haiti" 1958-1959 photo essay on a psychiatric institute in Haiti.
*"Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath" (1971) the centrepiece photograph in "Minamata", a long-term photo essay by Smith on the effects of mercury poisoning in the fishing village of Minamata, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan (see Minamata disease). The photograph depicts a mother cradling her severely deformed, naked daughter in a traditional Japanese bathing chamber. This has been withdrawn from circulation in accordance with the parents' wishes. [Withdrawal: Sam Stephenson, "W. Eugene Smith 55" (London: Phaidon, 2001), 14.] The photograph was the centerpiece of a Minamata disease exhibition held in Tokyo, Japan in 1974.cite web | author=Jim Hughes | title=Tomoko Uemura, R.I.P. | year=2000 | url=http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0007/hughes.htm | accessdate=2007-11-12]

Notes

References

* Steichen, Edward. "The Family of Man". New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1955.
* Smith, W. Eugene and Lincoln Kirsten. "W. Eugene Smith: His Photographs and Notes". New York: Aperture, 1973.
* Smith, W. Eugene. "Let Truth be the Prejudice: W. Eugene Smith, His Life and Photographs". New York: Aperture, 1985.

External links

* [http://www.smithfund.org W. Eugene Smith Fund]
* [http://cds.aas.duke.edu/jazzloft/index.html W. Eugene Smith Jazz Loft Project]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364110/ Emmy winning documentary: "American Masters: W. Eugene Smith: Photography Made Difficult" (1989 TV documentary)]
* [http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith.html Masters of Photography: W. Eugene Smith]
* [http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/eugesmith.htm Background and Photographs]
* [http://www.leegallery.com/smith.html W. Eugene Smith Photographs]
* [http://aileenarchive.or.jp/aileenarchive_en/index.html Aileen Archive] - Copyright holder of Smith's Minamata photos
* [http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith_minamata.html Photograph by W. Eugene Smith] - Tomoko Uemura in Her Bath, 1972