Born in 1918 in Wichita, Kansas, W. Eugene (Gene) Smith was a legendary photojournalist who got his start working for Newsweek. Smith’s stubborn personality and prickly perfectionism however kept him from fitting in at the conservative publication. In 1939 he signed an exclusive contract with Life. Although his time as a staff photographer for Life would be short lived, his association with the publication would be lifelong and troublesome. The photographer would have numerous disagreements with Life and most were centered around the conflict between his singular artistic vision and the magazine’s policies.
When war broke out in 1941 Smith become a war correspondent for Ziff-Davis, publisher of Flying and Popular Photography.
On the front lines Smith honed his talent for the photo essay. On May 23, 1945 he was seriously wounded by an incoming shell. Two years of painful recuperation followed.
During this period when he was home resting with his family Smith took one his most iconic images. “A Walk to Paradise Garden” an evocative picture of Smith’s two children would become a part of a photo essay “The Family of Man.”
W. Eugene Smith died in 1978 of a stroke brought on by years of drug and alcohol abuse. Now photographs and recordings that he made during the period of 1957- 1965 at after hours jazz sessions in a loft at 821 Sixth Avenue in NYC has been organized by the Center for Documentary Study at Duke University. The 3,000 hours of recordings and nearly 40,000 photographs that compromise the collection include sessions with Thelonius Monk, Zoot Sims, Roy Hanyes, Chick Corea, and many others. In addition to the exhibit, there are a series of radio shows with WNYC Radio in New York and a book.
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