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Lot ID: 17497
W. Eugene  Smith:   Tram in Tokyo
 
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Estimate
US $5,000 - $5,500
End Time
Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 2:00 PM EST
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Description
Artist: Smith W. Eugene
Title: Tram in Tokyo
Style: Contemporary (ca. 1945-present), documentary/photojournalism
Period: 1960s
Medium: Photographs, Silver print, Vintage gelatin silver print
Year: ie. circa 1960
Print/Casting Year: ie. circa 1961
Size: height - 7.75 in, width - 11.3 in, depth - 0 in
Markings: stamped, Estate Stamp on verso
Estimate: from $5,000 to $5,500

Seller's Description:
19.7 x 28.7 cm

The train emerges from the darkness in this dramatic print.

W. Eugene Smith
American, b. 1918, d. 1978

"Photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes - just sometimes - one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought." – W. Eugene Smith

William Eugene Smith was born in 1918 in Wichita, Kansas. He took his first photographs at the age of 15 for two local newspapers. In 1936 Smith entered Notre Dame University in Wichita, where a special photographic scholarship was created for him. A year later he left the university and went to New York City, and after studying with Helene Sanders at the New York Institute of Photography, in 1937 he began working for News-Week (later Newsweek). He was fired for refusing to use medium-format cameras and joined the Black Star agency as a freelance.

Smith worked as a war correspondent for Flying magazine (1943-44), and a year later for Life. He followed the island-hopping American offensive against Japan, and suffered severe injuries while simulating battle conditions for Parade, which required him to undergo surgery for the next two years.

Once recuperated, Eugene Smith worked for Life again between 1947 and 1955, before resigning in order to join Magnum as an associate. In 1957 he became a full member of Magnum. Smith was fanatically dedicated to his mission as a photographer. Because of this dedication, he was often regarded by editors as 'troublesome'.

A year after moving to Tucson to teach at the University of Arizona, Smith died of a stroke. His archives are held by the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona. Today, Smith's legacy lives on through the W. Eugene Smith Fund to promote 'humanistic photography', founded in 1980, which awards photographers for exceptional accomplishments in the field.[magnumphotos]
  • Condition Report
    • The seller has recorded the following condition for this lot:

      Description: Creases
      Location: Lower left
      Area: Margin
      Degree: Minor
      Notes:
      tiny crease in left corner margin, does not affect print

      Definition Key

  • History & Provenance
    • Exhibition:
      2001/02 Dream Street - W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Photographs - Carnegie Museum
      of Art Pittsburgh, USA; ICP, New York, USA; Center for Creative Photography,
      Tucson, USA
      1998/99 W. Eugene Smith - Hôtel de Sully, Paris, France; Fotomuseum Winterthur,
      Switzerland; Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain;
      Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee, UK; Pallazzo Magnani, Reggio Emilia,
      Italy
      1991 W. Eugene Smith - Centre Georges-Pompidou, Paris, France
      1974 Let Truth Be the Prejudice - Jewish Museum, New York, USA;
      American Institute of Architects Centennial Exhibition, National Gallery of Art,
      Washington, D.C.


      Publications:
      Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-1978. The jazz loft project : photographs and tapes of W. Eugene Smith from 821 Sixth Avenue, 1957-1965 / [compiled by] by Sam Stephenson. New York : Knopf, 2009.

      Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-1978. Dream street : W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh project / edited by Sam Stephenson. New York : Center for Documentary Studies in association with W.W. Norton, 2001.

      Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-1978. W. Eugene Smith / with an essay by Jim Hughes. New York, NY : Aperture Foundation, 1999.

      Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-1978. W. Eugene Smith : photographs 1934-1975 / edited by Gilles Mora and John T. Hill ; with essays by Gabriel Bauret ... [et al.]. New York : Harry N. Abrams, 1998.

      Willumson, Glenn Gardner. W. Eugene Smith and the photographic essay / Glenn G. Willumson. Cambridge [England] ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 1992.

      Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-1978. W. Eugene Smith / introduction by William S. Johnson. New York : Pantheon Books ; Paris : Centre national de la photographie, c1986.

      Maddow, Ben, 1909- . Let truth be the prejudice : W. Eugene Smith, his life and photographs / illustrated biography by Ben Maddow ; afterword by John G. Morris. New York City : Aperture : Viking Penguin [distributor], c1985.

      Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-1978. W. Eugene Smith, master of the photographic essay / edited with commentary by William S. Johnson ; foreword by James L. Enyeart. Millerton, N.Y. : Aperture ; [New York, N.Y.] : Distributed by Harper & Row, c1981.

      Smith, W. Eugene, 1918-1978. Minamata / by W. Eugene and Aileen M. Smith. Tucson, Ariz. : Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, c1981.
  • Shipping Information
    • Shipping Carrier:
      FedEx
      Shipping Weight: 3 lbs
      Framing: No
      Item Location: New York, USA
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Sales Results for Comparable Work

  • W. Eugene Smith
    Untitled, Pride street, from The Pittsburgh series, 1955 - 1956 1955 - 1956
    gelatin silver print
    9.3 in. x 14.0 in. / 23.5 cm. x 35.6 cm.

    Sold for US $6,240

    Swann Galleries:
    Thursday, May 14, 2009, (Lot 00318)
    Photographic Literature & Fine Photographs

  • W. Eugene Smith
    Death of Gus Gus, 1953
    silver print, mntd
    12.5 in. x 9.5 in. / 31.7 cm. x 24.1 cm.
    Signed

    Sold for US $5,520

    Swann Galleries:
    Tuesday, October 21, 2008, (Lot 00265)
    Important 19th & 20th century photographs

  • W. Eugene Smith
    Girl on crutches, from nurse midwife, 1951
    gelatin silver print
    10.4 in. x 13.3 in. / 26.3 cm. x 33.7 cm.
    Signed, Inscribed

    Sold for US $5,625

    Christie's New York:
    Tuesday, October 14, 2008, (Lot 00241)
    Photographs

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    • The chart shows the annual average premium prices of lots sold within a certain collecting category, which are calculated by dividing the total sales volume of the premium prices of all lots sold by the amount of lots sold. artnet defined peer groups or artists representing certain collecting categories. To be included in artnet’s peer groups, artists need to have sold either at least 10 lots at USD 10,000 or more, or at least 40 lots at USD 5,000 or more, or at least 3 lots each year since 2006 of which at least 2 were sold over USD 5,000. Our Photography art peer group consists of 445 artists. For 2009, the data included in the calculations is current through the 15th of June. The charts will be updated every three months.

      The data is culled from the artnet Price Database, which has collected auction sales results for over twenty years.

      Prices are stated in USD in order to facilitate comparison and analysis of the market reports. When sales took place in another currency, the conversion of that amount into USD was done on the basis of the average conversion rate applicable on the day of the sale.

      Although most auction houses these days report transactions in prices that include a buyer’s premium, some auction houses report only the hammer price. Based on an analysis of historical auction catalogs, we apply a formula to all records with hammer prices to estimate the effect of a buyer’s premium. All prices used in the charts are either reported in or equated to hammer price plus buyer’s premium.

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