W. Eugene Smith and the Photographic Essay

Smith virtually defined the photo essay with his memorable 1948 Life magazine piece ``Country Doctor.'' He continued his artful blending of words and pictures in three further Life assignments--``Spanish Village,'' ``Nurse Midwife'' and ``A Man of Mercy'' (on Albert Schweitzer)--but quit the magazine in 1954 to protest what he perceived as loss of ``authorial control'' over his work. He won additional acclaim as a freelancer, most notably for his reportage on Minimata, a Japanese town whose inhabitants were deformed by industrial mercury poisoning. Willumson, developer of the photography collection at the Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities in Santa Monica, Calif., analyzes in depth the production of and reaction to Smith's major photo essays, reproduced here in their original Life format. Admirers may be shocked by the author's ample documentation of the extent to which Smith and Life slanted research, manipulated scenes and doctored prints to enhance photo-reportage as ``a weapon against injustice.'' Willumson depicts his subject, who died in 1978, as a sensitive loner romantically attached to social causes and stubbornly committed to long, arduous efforts for excellence. ( Sept. )