W. Eugene Smith

First edition of W. Eugene Smith. First impression. Medium format hardback in fine condition. Text in Italian.

About

W. Eugene Smith revolutionized the concept of the photo essay with his reportages published in Life magazine between 1948 and 1956: a method of working that continued even after Smith became a member of the photographic agency Magnum Photos. This volume collects the images of his emblematic reportages: "The Country Doctor," which portrays the sacrifice and frustration of a doctor's work in rural America; "The Spanish Village," a powerful photographic study of 1950s Spain; "The Midwife," which recounts the life of an African-American woman in the American South; "A Compassionate Man," a document of Dr. Albert Schweitzer's humanitarian work in Africa; "Pittsburgh," Smith's first freelance assignment, which was never published in full; and "Minamata," a reportage exposing the effects of mercury on a region inhabited by Japanese fishermen. Through the author's words, we learn the techniques he used in the field, the principles that guided him, and the dramatic and moving story of his most famous photograph, "The Path to the Garden of Paradise," taken while Smith was still recovering from wounds suffered in World War II. The volume also includes a nearly fifty-page essay on his home village of Deleitosa, in Extremadura.