The Art of W Eugene Smith: A Retrospective

I recently had the opportunity to review a fascinating book on one of my favorite photographers, W Eugene Smith. As an artist and archivist at CCP, I was excited to dive into his archives and gain a deeper understanding of his work. This book is a treasure trove of information, offering a behind-the-scenes look at Smith's creative process and career.

Smith's influence can be seen in the work of many photographers who followed in his footsteps. He was an inspiration to artists such as Richard Avedon, who worked extensively in the fashion industry, and photojournalists like W. Genene Smith, who captured powerful images for publications like Life Magazine. Martin Mouchet, a French photographer from the 1940s and 1950s, also had a significant impact on Smith's work. Mouchet's innovative approach to photography influenced many artists, including Smith, who continued to push boundaries in his own work.

One of the most interesting aspects of this book is Smith's relationship with Life Magazine. He was known for being difficult to work with, and his reputation has been somewhat mythologized over time. However, this book provides a unique insight into his working methods and creative process. Smith was a master of the photo essay, which allowed him to tell complex stories through images alone. His work on projects like "The Country Doctor" showcases his ability to blend in with his subjects and capture powerful, natural moments.

Smith's approach to photography was often collaborative, but also deeply personal. He believed that the photographer should be an integral part of the storytelling process, rather than simply a technician capturing images. This approach is evident in his work on projects like "The Country Doctor," which features a series of photographs taken with Smith as the subject himself. The book provides a fascinating glimpse into Smith's creative process, including his relationships with editors and his own personal demons.

One of the most striking aspects of this book is Smith's discussion of photo essays and their role in storytelling. He talks about how he would often work with writers to create these vignette stories, which were designed to capture a particular moment or theme. However, Smith was never happy with the way that his work was presented – he believed that the photographs should be allowed to speak for themselves, without the interference of written descriptions or scripted sequences.

Smith's experience at Life Magazine is also worth noting. He was known for being difficult to work with, but this book provides a nuanced understanding of his approach to photography. Smith was often asked to adapt his style to suit the magazine's needs, which he did not appreciate. However, this collaboration also led to some remarkable images, including "The Country Doctor," which showcases Smith's ability to blend in with his subjects and capture powerful moments.

In conclusion, W Eugene Smith is a fascinating photographer whose work continues to inspire artists today. This book provides a unique insight into his creative process and career, offering a deeper understanding of the art of photojournalism. With its engaging narrative and stunning images, this book is a must-have for anyone interested in photography or storytelling.

The author also mentions that Smith has a few words about Robert Franken, which adds to the depth of the article.

The book is available on Amazon, with the hardcover edition priced at $50 and the soft cover version at around $20. While prices may fluctuate over time, this book is an excellent investment for anyone interested in photography or storytelling. Smith's work continues to be underrepresented in book form, making this a rare opportunity to learn about his life and career.

As I finish writing this article, I am reminded of the importance of Smith's work in the context of photojournalism. His innovative approach to storytelling has inspired generations of photographers, and his influence can still be seen today.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome back to the show everybody I want to do a follow-up today on a video that I did a few days ago on W Eugene Smith and if you haven't seen that I will link it up in the show description Eugene Smith was a fantastic photographer and since I did that episode I've had several people reach out and ask if I would recommend a good book on Smith's work to get started with and I do have a recommendation for you today and I will say it is kind of hard to find books on Smith and I'll talk about that in a second but the one I would recommend is actually this one it's just called W Eugene Smith the publisher is LA fabria or La Fabrica and you can search for this on Amazon or I will also link it up in the show notes and I think this is an excellent place to start for a number of reasons I think first of all the quality of of um reproduction in here is extremely high the image quality looks great um the selects are good in here and this is a good place to start I wouldn't consider any one book just because of how many photos exist of Eugene Smith to be definitive but if you want a good place to start I think this is it um the krux to the book deals with the photo essay that work that he did um mainly for Life magazine in the 1950s and a couple other Publications as well and some of those major projects are represented here like the country doctor the nurse Midwife is here as well um the project he did with Albert schwitzer that was actually ended up being controversial and ended his association with life magazines in here and these are all represented in great detail with good quality and they just did an outstanding job on here there's not a lot of an accompanying text in here and they're certainly not Pres presented in the way that they originally were intended although there is some essays in the front of the book that show the the original Life Magazine spreads but it's actually quite good um some other projects are represented here as well namely uh Pittsburgh uh when we get into that and uh of course Pittsburgh being such a massive scale project um this is one of the classic images this is really just kind of a brief Greatest Hits I think Pittsburg has over was 11,000 images that exist I mean this was a supposed to be a 3-we project that turned into 3 years years and kind of showed a point where Smith started to become a rather obsessive individual um as an artist and you know really put his subject before the client even so many times anyway really well done um and there is a good overview of that in here if you were interested in that and as I mentioned the print quality is good uh minimat is also represented here uh what is underrepresented is there are a few images from World War II towards the end of the book uh Jazz loft is non-existent here but this is a good place to start the second reason I recommend this other than the images being good in here and of good quality are the essays that are in here and they're several they're extremely good they talk about the Life Magazine spreads um and the whole concept of the photo essay uh which is really pretty fascinating and you can see the original spreads in here as well and then this which is the autobiographical statement from Eugene Smith uh which was written by him at the end of his career I'm I'm guessing probably in the mid 70s um by the time he got back from Japan the last time and his career uh uh was taking a turn because of his health he started teaching at University of Arizona and starting to work on his archives at CCP I believe and so he kind of gives you a retrospective of his work and this is really fabulous coming from the artist himself and I think it's really important a lot of the things that I mentioned to you in the biographical overview that I did he goes into depth on here with everything from the lighting technique that he used um to how to make that look natural uh talks about some of his early influences Martin mouchi is one of them Martin mouchi inspired a lot of photographers um in New York in the 1940s and 50s monachi was earlier I did a show on him a couple months ago and I'll give you a link to that in the description as well monachi was fabulous I think still by today's standards um he may be one of the most amazing photographers to come along he's kind of like this bab rth syndrome and he influenced a lot of people like uh Richard avidon people who were working in the fashion industry as well as photojournalists such as W genene Smith I thought that was interesting too he has a couple words about Robert Franken here as well and the really cool part about out here is when he talks about these photo essays and I think this is why this is a really good intro book particularly if you're interested in the photo essay work is he talked about his relationship with a lot of the magazines at that time mainly life but he also talks briefly about Newsweek and the fact that he got fired for refusing to use larger formats than 35mm and he was just insistent upon that because he had a way that he wanted to get the shots but his relationship with Life Magazine is interesting because he has a reputation for having been very difficult to work with and very thorny in a lot of ways and what's interested what's interesting about this is seeing Eugene Smith's side of the story and he goes into great detail about how they worked on these photo spreads back in those days which you know I mean these are the early days of of publication television hadn't really become quite as popular as it later became in the 60s and in the 70s and the photo essay were these wonderful ways to do these vignette stories on really anything whether it be political things or just life Illustrated in certain parts of the country which you see in things like the the nurse Midwife of the country doctor and Smith was really one of the great photographers for Life Magazine he was easily one of the most popular photographers that life used back in those days and he talks in here about that process quite a bit and how I mean you can get the book and read it get in his own words but he talks a lot about how you know these layouts were conceived early on with the written part of it coming first which never made sense to him because you can change the way something's worded but you can't really change the photograph after the fact and he even says in some cases early on they were even scripted the photographer was given a shot list and you'd have to go out with a script of what was going to be in the final layout which he hated working that way and I don't blame him because if you're going to be a photo joural photojournalist you can't sit there and pose things you've got to you know there's a multi-step process for him you have to blend in with the people you have to be accepted um so you're not sticking out as this garish figure with a camera in somebody's face it's got to feel natural and he talks a lot about this in here and so I think it's interesting when you consider historically um he's viewed as being very difficult to work with and I mean there's certainly two sides to every story and it doesn't seem that uh crazy coming out of his own his own pen in this case as he wrote the essay anyway excellent book I will put links to this in the show notes it's just called W Eugene Smith it's the one with the with the country doctor on the front walking across the the mudfield and uh this is quite excellent um it's not expensive um Amazon I hesitate to ever give you guys prices on here because as I've said before if you want a book you need to get it because art books come in and out print so quickly um right now it is available you can get the hard cover for $50 and I believe the soft cover version is 20 something well worth the investment um and especially with Eugene Smith because in a lot of ways he is kind of underp published or under representative under represented in book form so anyway I hope this helps and if you guys enjoyed this video please remember to like it subscribe and share this video with your friends and uh anyway that's all I got for today I'll catch you guys in the next video laterwelcome back to the show everybody I want to do a follow-up today on a video that I did a few days ago on W Eugene Smith and if you haven't seen that I will link it up in the show description Eugene Smith was a fantastic photographer and since I did that episode I've had several people reach out and ask if I would recommend a good book on Smith's work to get started with and I do have a recommendation for you today and I will say it is kind of hard to find books on Smith and I'll talk about that in a second but the one I would recommend is actually this one it's just called W Eugene Smith the publisher is LA fabria or La Fabrica and you can search for this on Amazon or I will also link it up in the show notes and I think this is an excellent place to start for a number of reasons I think first of all the quality of of um reproduction in here is extremely high the image quality looks great um the selects are good in here and this is a good place to start I wouldn't consider any one book just because of how many photos exist of Eugene Smith to be definitive but if you want a good place to start I think this is it um the krux to the book deals with the photo essay that work that he did um mainly for Life magazine in the 1950s and a couple other Publications as well and some of those major projects are represented here like the country doctor the nurse Midwife is here as well um the project he did with Albert schwitzer that was actually ended up being controversial and ended his association with life magazines in here and these are all represented in great detail with good quality and they just did an outstanding job on here there's not a lot of an accompanying text in here and they're certainly not Pres presented in the way that they originally were intended although there is some essays in the front of the book that show the the original Life Magazine spreads but it's actually quite good um some other projects are represented here as well namely uh Pittsburgh uh when we get into that and uh of course Pittsburgh being such a massive scale project um this is one of the classic images this is really just kind of a brief Greatest Hits I think Pittsburg has over was 11,000 images that exist I mean this was a supposed to be a 3-we project that turned into 3 years years and kind of showed a point where Smith started to become a rather obsessive individual um as an artist and you know really put his subject before the client even so many times anyway really well done um and there is a good overview of that in here if you were interested in that and as I mentioned the print quality is good uh minimat is also represented here uh what is underrepresented is there are a few images from World War II towards the end of the book uh Jazz loft is non-existent here but this is a good place to start the second reason I recommend this other than the images being good in here and of good quality are the essays that are in here and they're several they're extremely good they talk about the Life Magazine spreads um and the whole concept of the photo essay uh which is really pretty fascinating and you can see the original spreads in here as well and then this which is the autobiographical statement from Eugene Smith uh which was written by him at the end of his career I'm I'm guessing probably in the mid 70s um by the time he got back from Japan the last time and his career uh uh was taking a turn because of his health he started teaching at University of Arizona and starting to work on his archives at CCP I believe and so he kind of gives you a retrospective of his work and this is really fabulous coming from the artist himself and I think it's really important a lot of the things that I mentioned to you in the biographical overview that I did he goes into depth on here with everything from the lighting technique that he used um to how to make that look natural uh talks about some of his early influences Martin mouchi is one of them Martin mouchi inspired a lot of photographers um in New York in the 1940s and 50s monachi was earlier I did a show on him a couple months ago and I'll give you a link to that in the description as well monachi was fabulous I think still by today's standards um he may be one of the most amazing photographers to come along he's kind of like this bab rth syndrome and he influenced a lot of people like uh Richard avidon people who were working in the fashion industry as well as photojournalists such as W genene Smith I thought that was interesting too he has a couple words about Robert Franken here as well and the really cool part about out here is when he talks about these photo essays and I think this is why this is a really good intro book particularly if you're interested in the photo essay work is he talked about his relationship with a lot of the magazines at that time mainly life but he also talks briefly about Newsweek and the fact that he got fired for refusing to use larger formats than 35mm and he was just insistent upon that because he had a way that he wanted to get the shots but his relationship with Life Magazine is interesting because he has a reputation for having been very difficult to work with and very thorny in a lot of ways and what's interested what's interesting about this is seeing Eugene Smith's side of the story and he goes into great detail about how they worked on these photo spreads back in those days which you know I mean these are the early days of of publication television hadn't really become quite as popular as it later became in the 60s and in the 70s and the photo essay were these wonderful ways to do these vignette stories on really anything whether it be political things or just life Illustrated in certain parts of the country which you see in things like the the nurse Midwife of the country doctor and Smith was really one of the great photographers for Life Magazine he was easily one of the most popular photographers that life used back in those days and he talks in here about that process quite a bit and how I mean you can get the book and read it get in his own words but he talks a lot about how you know these layouts were conceived early on with the written part of it coming first which never made sense to him because you can change the way something's worded but you can't really change the photograph after the fact and he even says in some cases early on they were even scripted the photographer was given a shot list and you'd have to go out with a script of what was going to be in the final layout which he hated working that way and I don't blame him because if you're going to be a photo joural photojournalist you can't sit there and pose things you've got to you know there's a multi-step process for him you have to blend in with the people you have to be accepted um so you're not sticking out as this garish figure with a camera in somebody's face it's got to feel natural and he talks a lot about this in here and so I think it's interesting when you consider historically um he's viewed as being very difficult to work with and I mean there's certainly two sides to every story and it doesn't seem that uh crazy coming out of his own his own pen in this case as he wrote the essay anyway excellent book I will put links to this in the show notes it's just called W Eugene Smith it's the one with the with the country doctor on the front walking across the the mudfield and uh this is quite excellent um it's not expensive um Amazon I hesitate to ever give you guys prices on here because as I've said before if you want a book you need to get it because art books come in and out print so quickly um right now it is available you can get the hard cover for $50 and I believe the soft cover version is 20 something well worth the investment um and especially with Eugene Smith because in a lot of ways he is kind of underp published or under representative under represented in book form so anyway I hope this helps and if you guys enjoyed this video please remember to like it subscribe and share this video with your friends and uh anyway that's all I got for today I'll catch you guys in the next video later\n"