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.
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