W. Eugene Smith
Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer

© Estate of W. Eugene Smith

Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
ArtistAmerican, 1918–1978
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Albert Schweitzer
  • from Man of Mercy essay, Life Magazine
Date1949
PlaceAspen, Colorado, United States
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 9 7/8 × 13 1/16 in. (25.1 × 33.2 cm)
Sheet: 9 7/8 × 13 1/16 in. (25.1 × 33.2 cm)
Credit LineThe Sonia and Kaye Marvins Portrait Collection, museum purchase funded by Sonia and Kaye Marvins
Object number84.192
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Special Collections
Object Type
Description

Though widely known as a
photojournalist for Life magazine, W. Eugene Smith photographed so
beautifully, both compositionally and technically, that to describe his images
in terms of journalistic reportage alone is to do them a disservice. They are
at once fine art and documentation, pleasing to the eye and challenging to the
mind. A master of the photographic essay, Smith was able to tell his story
primarily by visual means using a minimum of words as captions. His photo
essays about a Spanish village, a country doctor, and Minamata, Japan, are
legendary in their descriptive power and presence. In another essay about a man
who was a legend himself, Smith photographed Albert Schweitzer in his African
commune and in America. In this photograph, Schweitzer's head is bowed, seemingly
weighed down by the world, although his hair glows as if touched by divine
grace. In a single image, Smith portrays the man and the myth by describing the
doctor's personal modesty and alluding to his spiritual mission.




Provenance[Sotheby & Co., London]; purchased by MFAH, 1984.
Exhibition History"W. Eugene Smith and James Nachtwey," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 14 October 2012 - 1 January 2013.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
no apparent inscriptions

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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