W. Eugene Smith
Amputation patient receives spinal anesthetic

Amputation patient receives spinal anesthetic

© Estate of W. Eugene Smith

Amputation patient receives spinal anesthetic
Amputation patient receives spinal anesthetic
ArtistAmerican, 1918–1978
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Amputation patient receives spinal anesthetic
  • from the series The Country Doctor
Date1948
PlaceKremmling, Colorado, United States
MediumGelatin silver print
Dimensions9 3/16 × 13 7/16 in. (23.3 × 34.1 cm) (image)
9 5/8 × 13 15/16 (sheet)
Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by "One Great Night in November, 2001" and by Dr. John P. McGovern and various other donors
Object number2001.244
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description

Smith (1918–1978) first gained wide recognition when he was hired by Life Magazine to cover American troops in the Pacific during World War II. After recovering from the wounds he received in the battle for Okinawa, Smith produced four major photographic essays for Life, including his most famous, Country Doctor.

W. Eugene Smith spent weeks immersing himself in the lives of his subjects, a practice that differed from the standard of the time. However, the success of Smith’s pictures with both his editors and the magazine’s public won him the right to spend the time he needed and wanted on each assignment, at least for a while.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, owns nearly a complete version of Smith’s 1948 photographic essay Country Doctor, as it was originally published in Life magazine. Dr. Ernest Ceriani, a physician in private practice in Kremmling, Colorado (population 1,000), was the subject. Smith followed him as he tended to the town’s medical needs, which ranged from stitches for a child kicked by a horse, to draining an infected ear, to basic surgery. Dr. Ceriani’s office had 14 beds and served as the town hospital.





ProvenanceTime-Life Collection; Howard Greenberg.
Exhibition History"W. Eugene Smith and James Nachtwey," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 14 October 2012 - 1 January 2013.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Marked in pencil on verso:
"PHOTO # 5530505"
"T. Mitchell/Giving spinal prior to operation"
"Country Doctor Ernest Ceriani of Kremmling, Colo./old Thomas Mitchell gets spinal anesthetic before amputation of his gangreous leg"
"PF34753TL"
Numerous other crayon and pencil markings.
Stamped on verso:
"©_____Time Inc. All Rights Reserved./No reproduction, commercial display...permission of the copyright holder"
"LIFE PHOTO/BY/W. EUGENE SMITH"
"27216"
"AUG 17 1948"
"USED IN LIFE SEP 20 1948"
"INTERNATIONAL EDITION OCT 11 1948"
"COUNTRY DOCTOR"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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Before the amputation, Dr. Ceriani checks the patient's blood pressure
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Gelatin silver print
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Dr. Ceriani carries a patient from basement ward to operating room
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Dr. Ceriani helps carry a patient into the hospital
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