W. Eugene Smith

the photographer's '134 Old Post Road North, Croton on Hudson, New York' stamp, various LIFE stamps, including 'USED IN LIFE Nov. 15, 1954,' 'LIFE PICTURE COLLECTION,' 'Best of Life,' and 'Famous Picture' stamps and label, and with extensive annotations and numbers in pencil, china marker, and ink on the reverse, 1954

Time Inc. Picture Collection, Howard Greenberg, agent

Irving Galleries, Palm Beach

 

This print, which was the print used in Smith's celebrated 1954 'Man of Mercy' essay in LIFE magazine, is on double-weight paper with a slight surface sheen. The print is trimmed to the image, and the edges are rubbed, with tiny losses. The corners are rounded and creased. In raking light, the following are visible: several linear impressions that do not break the emulsion; and extensive handling creases overall, in particular at the edges, that appear to have been flattened and possibly repaired. These are not apparent when viewing the photograph under normal conditions. LIFE, 15 November 1954, p. 161 (this print) David E. Scherman and Doris C. O'Neil, eds., The Best of Life (New York, 1973), p. 161 (this print) Other prints of this image: William S. Johnson, ed., W. Eugene Smith: Master of the Photographic Essay (Aperture, 1981), 22:142 Let Truth Be the Prejudice: W. Eugene Smith, His Life and Photographs (Aperture, 1985), p. 167 Gilles Mora and John T. Hill, eds., W. Eugene Smith: Photographs, 1934-1975 (New York, 1998), p. 147 W. Eugene Smith: His Photographs and Notes (Aperture, 1969), unpaginated
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This print was used by LIFE as the opening image for W. Eugene Smith's celebrated A Man of Mercy photo essay in the 15 November 1954 issue.  The accompanying caption reads, 'Toilers, Schweitzer and a carpenter, watch hospital building' (p. 161).