W. Eugene Smith, photojournalism absolute
« American photographer (1918-1978), a key Life figure who brought the photo-essay to its highest standard. »
A war correspondent in the Pacific for Life, Smith was severely wounded on Okinawa in 1945. Recovery was long; his return was called The Walk to Paradise Garden (1946) — his two children stepping out of a woodland toward the light. The image opened The Family of Man (1955).
Country Doctor (1948), Spanish Village (1951), Nurse Midwife (1951): his photo-essays for Life defined the genre. Smith rewrote captions, recropped, overdeveloped — pushing the expressiveness of the print to its limit. Too perfectionist, he left Life in 1955 over a layout fight on his Albert Schweitzer story.
Minamata (1971-1974), on the mercury poisoning of a Japanese fishing village by a Chisso factory, was his last great cycle. Tomoko in Her Bath (1971) was its central image. Beaten by Chisso enforcers and partially blinded, he published a book-as-indictment and died destitute in 1978.