Dream Street – W Eugene Smith′s Pittsburgh Project 1955–1958 - Softcover

Stephenson, Sam; Smith, W. Eugene; Trachtenberg, Alan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393325121 ISBN 13: 9780393325126

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2003

Synopsis

In 1955, having just ended his high-profile but stormy career with Life magazine by resigning, W. Eugene Smith was commissioned to spend three weeks in Pittsburgh and produce one hundred photographs for noted journalist and author Stefan Lorant's book commemorating the city's bicentennial. Smith stayed a year, compiling nearly sixteen thousand photographs for what would be the most ambitious photographic essay of his life. But only a fragment of the work was ever seen, despite Smith's lifelong conviction that it was his greatest set of photographs. Now, in an astonishing, first-time assemblage, edited by Sam Stephenson, of the group of core pictures that Smith asserted were the "synthesis of the whole," we see a portrayal not just of Pittsburgh but also of America at mid-century by a master photojournalist. In his accompanying essay, Alan Trachtenberg provides a critical reading of Smith's photographs, assessing Smith's attempt to document visually an American city in the context of the time period.

About this title

Review:

"The fortunate match of a brilliant picture-maker with one of America's most important and arresting industrial cities at its zenith." -- Chronicle of Higher Education

The fortunate match of a brilliant picture-maker with one of America's most important and arresting industrial cities at its zenith. -- Chronicle of Higher Education

Synopsis:

In 1955, having ended his high-profile career with "Life" magazine, W. Eugene Smith spent a year in Pittsburgh compiling nearly 16,000 photographs. Only a fragment of the work was ever seen, despite Smith's conviction that it was his greatest set of photographs. Now, in an assemblage of pictures that Smith asserted were the "synthesis of the whole", we see a portrayal not just of Pittsburgh but also of mid-20th-century America by a master photojournalist.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0393325121
• ISBN 13: 9780393325126
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 176