From the Minamata photo documentary. Reportage on the Minamata Bay environmental disaster by W. Eugene Smith and his wife Aileen. Photo taken at the Chisso Goi factory Tokyo on day Smith was attacked by goons and badly beaten. On January 7, 1972, W. Eugene Smith and his wife Aileen went to the Chisso factory in Goi City, Chiba Prefecture outside Tokyo to cover patients and demonstrators there. As the Chisso headquarters was in Tokyo, many patients were demonstrating at Goi demanding to meet the company’s president. But Chisso execs declined, citing legal reasons. On that day, Chisso had tight security and when demonstrators and the media entered the factory gates, Smith followed. This is when security attacked the group leaving Smith badly beaten. To this day it’s not sure if the attackers were security guards, staff or hired thugs. No one was ever charged by the police for the attack, done in retaliation to the international exposure Smith and his wife had created by reporting on this story. Smith never fully recovered from this episode and the reason his health deteriorated until his death in 1978. This photo was published in LIFE magazine in the June 2, 1972 issue and in Smiths 1975 book Minamata. This print originates from the publisher Holt, Rinehart & Winston and was used to promote Smith’s “Minamata” book in 1975. Photo date: January 7, 1972. Size: 7 7/8 x 10 1/8 inches. Vintage gelatin silver fiber print, single weight, glossy. Eugene Smith was a contemporary of Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, David Douglas Duncan, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Margaret Bourke-White, Carl Mydans and also a member of the photo cooperative Magnum Photos and a staff photographer for LIFE Magazine. While at LIFE he did such stories as; Spanish Village, Small Town Doctor, Nurse Midwife, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and the The Pacific War. Thank you for looking. The item “W. Eugene Smith Minamata Japan Documentary 1972 Rare Vintage Orig. Fiber Print” is in sale since Wednesday, July 11, 2018. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Photographic Images\Contemporary (1940-Now)\Other Contemporary Photographs”. The seller is “paperpix” and is located in Tokyo. This item can be shipped worldwide.
- Region of Origin: Japan
- Framing: Unframed
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
- Size Type/Largest Dimension: Medium (Up to 10″)
- Listed By: Dealer or Reseller
- Date of Creation: 1970-1979
- Color: Black & White
- Photo Type: Gelatin Silver
- Signed: Unsigned
- Original/Reprint: Original Print