Pittsburgh:
Vintage Photographs by W. Eugene Smith
from 1955-1958
Exhibit: September - November, 2001
EUGENE SMITH
Man Walking on Hill
Pittsburgh, 1955-58, silver print, ca. 1950s
13 1/4 x 9 1/8, three stamps including photographer's and copyright on verso of mount.
|
EUGENE SMITH
Bridge, Buildings & River at Night
1955-58, silver print, ca. 1950s
13 x 8, "Photograph by W. Eugene Smith" stamp on verso of mount.
|
EUGENE SMITH
Coal Cars
Pittsburgh, 1955-58, silver print, ca. 1950s
13 x 9 37/8, five stamps including photographer's and copyright on verso of mount.
|
EUGENE SMITH
Italian Sons/Daughters Delivery
1955-58, silver print, ca. 1950s
13 5/16 x 8 3/4, "This authenticated photograph by W. Eugene Smith was in his private collection at his death-October 15, 1978" stamp on print verso.
|
EUGENE SMITH
Self Portrait
Pittsburgh, 1955-58, silver print, ca. 1950s
6 3/4 x 13 3/8, "Photograph by W. Eugene Smith" stamp, on print verso.
|
EUGENE SMITH
Man in Doorway
Pittsburgh, 1955-58, silver print, ca. 1970s
13 3/4 x 9 13/16, Unmounted.
|
EUGENE SMITH
Ballet Dancers Warming Up
Pittsburgh, 1955-58, silver print
13 1/2 x 7 11/16, Mounted.
|
EUGENE SMITH
Building on Top of a Hill
Pittsburgh, 1955-58, silver print, ca. 1950s
13 3/4 x 8 3/4, three stamps including photographer's and copyright on verso of mount.
|
|
More Photos
By EUGENE SMITHpage 1
page 2
page 3
page 4
Eugene Smith, American, 1918-1978
W. Eugene Smith was a freelance photojournalist who is best known for his photo-essays. He worked for a number of magazines including Collier's, Harper's Bazaar, and Life. After a falling out over artistic freedom with Life in 1954, Smith joined Magnum and it is here that he was given the assignment to photograph the city of Pittsburgh. Stefan Lorant, an Hungarian journalist, photographer and art editor, had been commissioned to produce a book on the city. Lorant's intent was to portray the city's development and revision in the recent years. Smith was asked to produce 100 photographs for a chapter on the city's rebirth.
Almost immediately, Smith and Lorant clashed. Smith wanted to create a body of work which illustrated the industrial city as a "living entity", an individual unto itself with man as its silent driving force; while Lorant was only interested in focusing on the visual transformation of Pittsburgh and the powerful people behind it. Although the two men differed in opinion, Smith began to photograph the city and its people, and what should have been a project that lasted for only a few months, turned into an endeavor that lasted for a few years. Smith took thousands of photographs and at one point had to finance the undertaking on his own. Later, he applied for and was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships which helped to supplement the project.
In the end, Smith narrowed his essay down to 2000 images from 10,000 negatives and 88 of these photographs were published in the 1959 Photography Annual. In 1964, Lorant's book Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City was published and 62 of Smith's images appeared in the book. A traveling exhibition entitled, "Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith Pittsburgh Photographs, 1955-1958" will be at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh from November 3rd, 2001 through February 10th, 2002, and a book of the exhibition will be published in October.
|
 Email us at: w@leegallery.com
Member of The Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD)
|