Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project

by W. Eugene Smith (Photographer), Alan Trachtenberg (Contributor), Sam Stephenson (Editor)

Legendary photographer W. Eugene Smith's epic study of Pittsburgh in the 1950s. 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. 175 duotone photographs

Genres: Photography, Art, History, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Digi M]

A comprehensive view of a city, with shots ranging from weddings, to town hall, to baptisms and steel works. He was less concerned about clarity and sharpness, and more about the moment and themes.

I love in particular the steelworks photos. The subjects look like they could be extras in mad max.

[Jesse]

The genius and drama of W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project is obvious from even a cursory flip through Sam Stephenson and Alan Trachtenberg's recent reconstruction. If the book has any drawback, in fact, it's that Stephenson and Trachtenburg don't go whole hog, instead including only a sliver of the thousands of images Smith created during his stay in Pittsburgh. Smith's composition is simply amazing, nearly every image featuring deep foreground/background relationships, offset by church spires, factories, smokestacks, train tracks, rivers, lushly blurring lights, and people, almost always people. Smith--speed freak that he was, as the text points out repeatedly--had insanely grand ambitions for Pittsburgh, and I only wish this book reflected more of the dude's totally insane scope.

[Mike]

I always like to think that Eugene Smith, camera in hand, frantically scurried past my grandmother pushing my mom in a carriage down the streets of Pittsburgh sometime in the early 50's. His Pittsburgh project more than any other shows how obsessive and inflexible he was.

[K De]

W. Eugene Smith's massive photographic project that was never completed with thousands of masterprints from seventeen thousand negatives. A manic project that took years to photograph. The photographic commentary by Sam Stephenson complements the photographic eye of Smith's monumental project. Well work savoring.

[Jan]

A gorgeous collection of Pittsburgh scenes, steel mills, offices, shoppers, steps, churches, kids, street signs and more. Includes essays about Smith's work, his obsession with Pittsburgh and his eventual breakdown. I kept expecting to see someone familiar in the crowds, the images are that immediate and striking. I'm glad I bought this book, because I'll be looking back through it a lot.

[Kevin Casto]

Wonderful book on the photojournalist W. Eugene Smith and his Pittsburgh Project. He was a man of his time much like the abstract expressionist painters...Smith's passion for creating images of Pittsburgh came like a jazz composition.

[Jessica]

Wonderful photos and nicely written accompanying text. Fun to recognize snippets of the city.

[Jason Downey]

Beautiful. Beautiful.

[phil breidenbach]

Great Book full of pictures of Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas by a great photographer!

[Larry Lawhead]

Fabulous photo book documenting Pittsburgh PA in the late 50’s. Includes solid introduction, musings and notes on photos. A gorgeous book!

[Phil Overeem]

A stunner. A photo-essay X-Ray of '50s Pittsburgh. Dreams glimpsed and blotted out; ideals realized and betrayed.

[Julie Mickens]

Intoxicating and gorgeous. A world long gone, whose ghosts haunt Pittsburgh's tall crooked city steps and creep over them like poison ivy and knotweed, so lush but so dark.

[Alison]

GENIUS WORK, FABULOUS PHOTOGRAPHS OF THIS CITY I LOVE