This is one of the key images from W. Eugene Smith’s celebrated photographic essay on Albert Schweitzer and the hospital he founded and operated in Lambarene in present-day Gabon. Published in LIFE magazine in November 1954, Smith’s essay covered 12 pages and documented the dire need for healthcare that Dr. Schweitzer, through his tireless efforts, was attempting to meet. The present image is reproduced over two pages and bears the caption: ‘Long after the hospital is asleep, Schweitzer works at his desk.’
Spread from Man of Mercy, LIFE magazine, 15 November 1954 Provenance
The Collection of Kevin Eugene Smith, the photographer's son
Weinstein Gallery, MinneapolisLiterature
LIFE, 'Man of Mercy,' 15 November 1954, pp. 170-171
Aperture, W. Eugene Smith: Master of the Photographic Essay, p. 146
PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE WEST COAST COLLECTION
136
Albert Schweitzer from 'A Man of Mercy'
1954
Gelatin silver print.
9 1/4 x 13 3/8 in. (23.5 x 34 cm)
Signed in pencil on the recto; credit, title and date '1955' with annotations in an unidentified hand in ink on the reverse of the mount.
Estimate
$4,000 - 6,000
Sold for $4,032
Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs, New York
skrueger@phillips.com
Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairwoman, Americas
vhallett@phillips.com
Photographs
New York Auction 12 October 2022
