SMITH, William Eugene

About US-American photographer, William Eugene SMITH (1918-1978)

In addition to his technical perfection, William Eugene SMITH's photographic style was characterized by his emotional approach to the subjects he photographed. Although he saw himself as a neutral observer and placed the highest demands on his journalistic ethics, his perspective was never cold or voyeuristic, but always characterized by compassion and passion. With this attitude and his reportages, he shaped American reportage photography for more than three decades. He took his first photographs at the age of fifteen and was soon working occasionally for two local newspapers. From 1936 to 1937, he studied photography at Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, before working in New York for the magazine 'Newsweek' and the agency 'Black Star'. He then worked as a freelancer for several magazines. During the Second World War, he photographed and followed the Pacific War. After the war, he created his most famous photograph, 'Walk to Paradise Garden', which was included in the world-famous The Family of Man exhibition. From 1955 to 1958 he was a member of the Magnum Agency. From 1957 to 1965, he took around 40,000 individual photographs in his New York loft, in which he portrayed jazz musicians such as Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman - published in the book 'The Jazz Loft Project' - or captured street scenes from the window. William Eugene SMITH died in 1978 at the age of 59 following a stroke.

Photo volumes by and with works by William Eugene SMITH (a selection)

• 'The Concerned Photographer 2' (1972, together with works by Marc RIBOUD, Dr. Roman VISHNIAC, Bruce DAVIDSON, Gordon PARKS, Ernst HAAS, Hiroshi HAMAYA as well as by Donald McCULLIN); 'His Photographs and Notes' (1973, 1993); 'Minamata' (1975, 2013); 'Darkroom' (1977, together with works by Wynn BULLOCK, Jerry BURCHARD, Linda CONNOR, Larry CLARK, Ralph GIBSON, Betty HAHN, Eikoh HOSOE, George KRAUSE, Elaine MYAES, Duane MICHALS, George TICA as well as by Jerry UELSMANN); 'I Grandi Fotografi. W. Eugene Smith' (1983); 'Let Truth Be the Prejudice. His Life and Photographs' (1985); 'Rebel Photographer' (1987); 'W. Eugene Smith: Du côté de l'ombre' (1988, by Gilles Mora & John T. Hill); 'Shadow and Substance' (1989); 'W. Eugene Smith and the Photographic Essay' (1992); 'The Camera as Conscience' (1998); 'Photographs 1934-1975' (1998); 'W. Eugene Smith. Aperture Masters of Photography' (1999); 'W. Eugene Smith' (2001, by Sam Stephenson); 'Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project' (2003, 2023); 'The Jazz Loft Project' (2009, 2023); 'More Real Than Reality' (2011, 2012); 'The Legacy of W. Eugene Smith in the Valleys' (2012); 'Pittsburgh. 1955-1958' (2012); 'The Big Book' (2013); 'The Run-On of Time' (2017);
  

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