Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project

Being increasingly dissatisfied with the rationed work at Life magazine, Smith resigned from his job there in late 1954 and became a staff editor at Magnum Photo Agency in 1955. Over the next three years, he contributed articles to Life magazine, Sports Illustrated, Popular Photography, and other publications.

Photo editor Stefan Lorant needed some photos reflecting Pittsburgh for a lookbook. The proceeds from this album will be used for an urban revitalization project. Smith accepted the job and gave Smith $500 in advance. When the project was completed, Smith would receive $1,200 per month as compensation. The work was supposed to be completed in two to three weeks. Instead Smith made it a three-year project, the "Pittsburgh" photo story, that ended up being largely unfinished. However, Smith saw an opportunity in this assignment to expand the form of photographic storytelling. Smith moved to Pittsburgh, set up a darkroom in his apartment, hired an assistant and a tour guide. He worked hard and invested a lot of his own money into this project. During five months of work in 1955 and a few weeks of 1957, Smith shot 11,000 negatives. The work was hampered by Smith's often self-defeating, stubbornness and legal problems. When Llorente's book finally appeared in 1964, 64 of Smith's photos were included.

In order to save Smith's work, Magnum reached publishing agreements with Look and Life magazines. But the deal ultimately fell through because Smith was unhappy with the magazine's layout and its back-and-forth. He wanted to combine the photos into wholes that were rich in themes and contained many metaphors. The "Pittsburgh" story was never published in anything resembling "Smith's book." The most complete version he typeset himself appeared in the Photography Annual in 1959, using 37 pages to publish 88 photos. Smith considered the work a failure, but the Pittsburgh project was considered a remarkable initiative that pushed photographic storytelling into wider spaces.

During this time (during the filming of Pittsburgh Story), Smith's marriage ended, his health deteriorated badly, and he became embroiled in legal battles. He owed Magnum Photos a lot of money and was bankrupt. He put his family in a very difficult position, even though he was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships.

There will be another task soon. In 1956, Smith was commissioned by the American Institute of Architects to take color photographs of contemporary American architecture. Smith's second visit to Japan was to Hitachi Corporation in 1961. He was invited to stay there for a year, photographing the company and its employees. In an article on the Masters of Photography website, Tony Hayden recalled meeting Smith at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. Smith came to Woodstock after filming singer Bob Dylan in New York. Smith and Hayden spent their first afternoon there walking and taking photos. Hayden recalled that Smith seemed to enjoy the quiet time and felt like home. Hayden writes, “He was so involved that he felt one with the camera, a part of it and the world of his subjects.

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