Masters of Photography - W. Eugene Smith
Nov 5th, 2008 by admin
Photography © The Heirs of W. Eugene Smith
Minimata Photography © Aileen Archive Ltd.
http://aileenarchive.or.jp/aileenarchive_en/index.html
Smith’s Portrait, NYC, 1977 © Arnold Newman
Smith’s Portrait, 1945 © Carl Mydans
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Eugene_Smith
William Eugene Smith (1918, 30 December - 1978, 15 October) 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 Labour Party (UK), under Clement Attlee, was narrowly victorious. Life had actually taken an editorial stance against the Labour 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 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.
Today, Smith’s legacy lives on through the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund to promote “humanistic photography.” Since 1980, the fund has awarded photographers for exceptional accomplishments in the field.
Photo-essays:
* “Country Doctor” 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 (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 (1954) photo essay on Dr. Albert Schweitzer and his humanitarian work in French Equatorial Africa.
* “Pittsburgh” (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.
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http://www.smithfund.org/
http://aileenarchive.or.jp/aileenarchive_en/index.html
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R139C2T&nm=W%2E%20Eugene%20Smith
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/smith/smith.html
http://www.luminous-lint.com/app/photographer/W_Eugene__Smith/C/
http://www.leegallery.com/smith.html
http://photoquotes.com/ShowQuotes.aspx?id=53&name=Smith,W.%20Eugene
http://cds.aas.duke.edu/jazzloft/index.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0364110/
http://historical.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=659&Lot_No=25377&src=pr
http://www.photo-seminars.com/Fame/eugesmith.htm
http://www.pbase.com/omoses/image/61501608
Duration : 0:6:15
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They are two …
They are two children playing with a headless doll (Pittsburgh).
Pardon for the odd …
Pardon for the odd question.
I’m kinda confused about the picture in 4:47.
Can someone please explain?
A talent that had …
A talent that had compsion and soul. He did not
use his art to attack but to inform. His work
is in most cases deeply moving and impossible to forget.
No one has touched …
No one has touched my very soul with their images as Gene Smith. His passion consumed him. He was a true artist!
thank you so much.. …
thank you so much..regards, Cybele
He found something …
He found something much biger than himself ..I can see the passion on his work.. is as raw as is moving .This is an absolutely favorite! thank you so much!
W. Eugene Smith is …
W. Eugene Smith is an inspiration to Photojournalists. He had an amazing eye that managed to capture so much more than what appears on the surface.
These are masterpieces in the truest sense of the word.
oh.. thanks. For …
oh.. thanks. For sure one day I’ll visit Deleitosa. I adore Eugene’s photos…so touching. Saludos!
truly remarkable …
truly remarkable photos…
Smith was a …
Smith was a fascinating and complex artist, thank you for this. The ‘Walk to Paradise Garden’ are Smith’s own kids, one of the images he made as he recovered from his war injuries, while the family nanny provided food because they were too poor to eat ( stand to be corrected on that ) …. Smith was an enormously gifted man who, willingly or not, sacrificed pretty much everything and everyone to his craft. We, however, are so much richer for that sacrifice. Thank you Cybele.
good work!! I’m …
good work!! I’m from Deleitosa, and in this village,everybody are so proud of this pictures and the way that Eugene did it.
Now the village it’s so much diferent, you should came to visit it!
Thank you !!
Cybele *****
So …
Cybele *****
So poor, but so rich man. Thanks for teaching this us.Beautiful job.
Antonio
I was unaware I had …
I was unaware I had seen his work before, particularly the “Country Doctor” series. This is amazing work.
wow,and double wow. …
wow,and double wow…very moving.what a photographer…the 2 children in japan “the walk to paradise”…the country doctor..i’m just taken back..this for sure is in my favorites…can you tell i’m into this one?excellent music..as allways..
According to The W. …
According to The W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund.. “Some say he sacrificed his career, and himself, on an altar of self-destructive idealism. When he died at the age of 59 in 1978, he had $18 in the bank. But his name had become synonymous with integrity. His work was his memorial.”…
When real life …
When real life becomes art… thanks Cybele! Donni
Truly moving.
…
Truly moving.
Truly terrifying.
What hath man wrought?
Did I mention the …
Did I mention the goosebumps part? This is just astounding. Instant favorite!
Wow! This gave me …
Peace,
Wow! This gave me goosebumps! Very powerful stuff with some beautiful music. Thank you Cybele! 5* (like that’s a surprise!)
WP
good work keep it up
good work keep it up
wow…i felt i was …
wow…i felt i was in the midst of their suffering, it was that well captured and put together. I dont understand how we humans let this happen to another.
Thank you cybele, the quality of Eugene smith work is unmatchable today.
It’s true.. thanks …
It’s true.. thanks Si. Take care, Cybele.
absolutely brilliant
absolutely brilliant
Iconic images of …
Iconic images of the 20th century.
Thank You
Si x