W. Eugene Smith
American, 1918–1978
Marine Drinking, Battle for Saipan
INV-2414
W. Eugene Smith
American, 1918–1978June, 1944
Marine Drinking, Battle for Saipan
W. Eugene Smith American, 1918–1978 →gelatin silver (developing-out-paper) prphotographic process
Date
June, 1944
Medium
Gelatin silver print, from "The Second World War"
Dimensions
Image/paper: 22.8 × 18.2 cm (9 × 7 3/16 in.); Mount: 45.1 × 37.6 cm (17 13/16 × 14 13/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Photography and Media Purchase Fund
A native of Wichita, Kansas, William Eugene Smith began his career photographing for local newspapers when he was fifteen and eventually became one of the most renowned photojournalists of the 20th century. The pictures he made as a correspondent in the Pacific theater during World War II are some of the most powerful war images ever produced. This photograph of a U.S. Marine on Saipan, for example, became a lasting icon for World War II, and for the horror and heroism of war in general. Smith was badly injured by mortar fire on Okinawa just months after making this image. After nearly two years of recovery, he devoted the rest of his career to photographic essays with a humanitarian bent.
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