Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/02/21

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Eugene Smith, Charlie Chaplin, and 6 Leicas
From: richard at imagecraft.com (Richard Man)
Date: Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:09:59 -0800
References: <299064.79290.qm@web32207.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <AEA715D5-54C5-4BCA-A31C-377711E25E2C@charter.net> <19b6d42d1002210959i638f628epf39ee791c4bd0e75@mail.gmail.com>

Vince, did he also suffer physical injuries from thugs beating him up
(possibly because of Minamata)?

Absolutely fascinating character.

On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 9:59 AM, Vince Passaro <passaro.vince at 
gmail.com>wrote:

> SD,
>
> First, do keep in mind that the Life editors, who were foisting off one
> jolly middle-of-the-road everything's-going-great-in-America-and--the-West
> story after another, largely disliked Smith or worse.  He made nothing but
> trouble. When he was sent to Britain to cover the elections in 1950 --
> because Henry Luce badly wanted Labour to lose to the Tories -- he came
> back
> with the famous pictures of the Welsh miners. You can imagine how pleased
> the editors were. And on and on it went.
>
> Second, Smith was "isolated" in the 1970s largely in Minimata Japan where
> he
> became a lasting national hero to the Japanese by chronicling the effects
> of
> mercury poisoning on the citizens of that sea-side town, due to industrial
> waste poured directly into local waters by a local corporation, which
> eventually after much legal wrangling (also covered by Smith, over four or
> five years living on no money in the village) was held liable for its
> abuse,
> the first time this ever occurred in Japan. He was physically ever more of
> a
> wreck -- much of the self-medicating and subsequent addiction had its
> foundation in the injuries to his neck and back that he suffered in the
> war,
> the same neck and back he was hanging six Leicas off of in the 1940s and
> 50s.
>
> So perhaps those who testify about his skill as a printer are hagiographers
> and perhaps he was mediocre; no matter now. We are left with the prints
> reproduced in books like "Dream Street" and "The Jazz Loft Project" --
> prints made over years when he was broke and had a smattering of
> girlfriends
> and acolytes assisting him on an irregular basis -- he used up people the
> way he used up film -- and these are subtle and magnificent prints, judging
> by the reproductions. So we'll enjoy them without being doctrinaire about
> their production.
>
> VP
>
> On Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 12:32 PM, slobodan Dimitrov
> <s.dimitrov at charter.net>wrote:
>
> > Granted on the issues of the visual essay. It's an area that vexed him to
> > no end.
> > However, on the printing issue, he wasn't especially brilliant,or
> anything
> > approaching the level of a genius, as the current wave of celebratory and
> > fawning 'scholarship' likes to intimate.
> > In the mid 1970's, I interviewed one of his old editor at LIFE. I wish I
> > had the presence of mind to have saved the notes. His name currently
> escapes
> > me.
> > However, I will be in Santa Monica this afternoon. I'll try to swing by
> the
> > house, where the interview took place. Maybe the family still owns it, or
> > the current tenant might know who lived had lived there.
> > Anyway, he said he kept an eye on Smith while he stepped off the LIFE
> > reservation. He made sure he was hired back in 1944.
> > A number of comments stand out from that nearly 3 hour conversation.
> > According to the editor, the key reason over the earlier disagreement
> with
> > LIFE, came up over Smith's refusal to use a larger format than the 35mm.
> > Another interesting point was his dismissal of Smith's printing
> > capabilities. He recounted, how one day Smith went to the LIFE lab to
> have a
> > print done. He had spent days on it, with little success. He showed the
> head
> > printer what he done so far, and asked if he could do something with it.
> The
> > printer came back 15 minutes later, and asked Smith if that''s what he
> had
> > in mind, as he showed him the print. Smith just looked at the print,
> nodded,
> > and walked away.  Apparently not very happy at not being to able to have
> > solved the negative's issues with that kind of ease, according to the
> > editor.
> > Lastly, he mentioned that it was in Smith's contract that he wasn't
> allowed
> > to use strobes. However, he did use a small strobe in the shot of
> Schweitzer
> > at the his desk with the oil lamp. Smith bounced the light off the floor,
> to
> > the left of Schweitzer, to separate him from the dark background.
> Apparently
> > all the contracts were tailored to each individual photographer. What
> > applied to Smith might not necessarily apply to Capa, etc.
> > That's all I can remember so far.
> > During the 70's Smith wasn't especially known for his printing. It was
> just
> > general knowledge.
> > In those years I made a point of trying to meet as many of the
> > photographers whose work I admired.
> > But, by then Smith was an isolated tragic figure, who was no longer
> > accessible.
> > The editor was the closest I could come.
> > S.d.
> >
> >
> > On Feb 21, 2010, at 7:38 AM, John Edwin Mason wrote:
> >
> > > Vince, ditto to everything you said, especially this about the
> Pittsburgh
> > project:
> > >
> > >> He went and spent most of two years in Pittsburgh taking pictures
> that,
> > >> given the original low-paying assignment, probably required less than
> a
> > >> week's work. They are some of the greatest American photographs of the
> > >> post-war years, absolutely astonishing. They were finally gathered
> > >> together in significant number only a few years ago and the book he'd
> > >> long dreamed of came into being. It's called "Dream Street."
> Definitely
> > >> worth owning.
> > >
> > > "Absolutely astonishing" is right.
> > >
> > > The story of the project, which is well told in the introduction to
> > "Dream Street," is equally astonishing.  As you know, he was driven,
> > obsessed, compulsive, and deeply addicted to meth and booze.  He suffered
> > tremendously, and so did many of those closest to him.  The book is still
> in
> > print, btw.
> > >
> > > He was printing and editing the Pittsburgh project at the same time
> that
> > he was living in the NYC loft and creating the photos and sound
> recordings
> > that make up the Jazz Loft Project.  The musicians who knew him remember
> him
> > as a very cool cat--generous, easy to be around, and always, always,
> always
> > working.
> > >
> > > --John
> > >
> > > ******************************
> > > John Edwin Mason, Photography:
> > > http://www.JohnEdwinMason.com
> > > Charlottesville and Cape Town
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Leica Users Group.
> > > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Leica Users Group.
> > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>



-- 
// richard <http://www.imagecraft.com/> blog: <
http://imagecraft.wordpress.com>
// portfolio: <http://www.dragonsgate.net/pub/richard/PICS/AnotherCalifornia
>
// mailing lists: <http://www.imagecraft.com/contact.html>
[ For technical support on ImageCraft products, please include all previous
replies in your msgs. ]


In reply to: Message from profmason at yahoo.com (John Edwin Mason) ([Leica] Eugene Smith, Charlie Chaplin, and 6 Leicas)
Message from s.dimitrov at charter.net (slobodan Dimitrov) ([Leica] Eugene Smith, Charlie Chaplin, and 6 Leicas)
Message from passaro.vince at gmail.com (Vince Passaro) ([Leica] Eugene Smith, Charlie Chaplin, and 6 Leicas)