First edition of The Archive: W. Eugene Smith, The Middle Years (1984) Medium format softcover in near fine condition. Some age toning to the front and back cover. Shelf wear to the spine and corners of the page block. Previous over inscription (photographer Nick Hedges). Otherwise, pages clean and binding firm. See pictures for reference. About This is the second volume of The Center for Creative Photography's research series devoted to the works of W. Eugene Smith, critically exploring Smith's aesthetic and historical contributions to photography by scholar and historian Willian Johnson. In this essay, Johnson analyses the middle years, 1955-1963, of Smith's career and work by contrasting his professional experiences with quotes from his own impassioned words drawn from letters and manuscripts in the Smith archive at the Center. Johnson's essay provides striking insights into the lifelong conflict between Smith's personal desires as an artist and the demands of photojournalism, between his personal life that ended in tragedy and the often tragic lives of those he photographed, and between the accepted idea of what constitutes a photograph as a work of art and what Smith knew and believed it could be.
