Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project (Paperback)

~ Alan Trachtenberg (Editor), Sam Stephenson (Editor, Contributor), (Photographer)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

In 1955, the historian Stefan Lorant hired W. Eugene Smith to make a hundred photographs of contemporary Pittsburgh for a book in celebration of the city's bicentennial; he expected the job to take no more than three weeks. But Smith, whose grand ambitions and uncompromising aesthetic had recently led him to resign his stormy tenure at Life, quickly became obsessed, shooting some seventeen thousand pictures. Inspired by Joyce and Faulkner, Smith envisioned a symphonic, multilayered photo essay portraying the entire city; his failure to complete it haunted him for the rest of his life. Here are more than a hundred and fifty of his noirish and oddly poignant images: gleaming railyards at night; buildings wrapped in clouds of industrial smoke; the face of a steelworker, the Bessemer fires reflected in his safety goggles.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

Smith's attempt to record the paradoxes of city life in America...was harnessed to an enormous talent, and he wasn't far from the mark when he wrote that his essay would 'create history.' (New York Times )

The fortunate match of a brilliant picture-maker with one of America's most important and arresting industrial cities at its zenith. (Chronicle of Higher Education )

The fortunate match of a brilliant picture-maker with one of America's most important and arresting industrial cities at its zenith. -- Chronicle of Higher Education

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393325121
• ISBN-13: 978-0393325126
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 9.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #44,578 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Artistry of the Camera: A City in Transition, November 6, 2001

By	C.A. Eubanks (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project, 1955-1958 (Hardcover)

Pittsburgh -- the smoky city at the end of an era -- Snap shots frozen in time through a sensitive and interpretative lens.

Smith's book provides a true insight into the people, business and architecture of the Pittsburgh of the late Fifties. These were the days when Mayor Davey Lawrence was setting about to destroy and forget the old, ushering in the new. Steel was still king with its blast furnaces spewing smoke. Street cars still rumbled through city streets.

For the reader interested in the nostalgia of the times, for those seeking the artistry of the lens, for the serious student of metropolitan evolution this book is a must read!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Portrayal of Pittsburgh in its "Steel City" Era, December 23, 2001

By	David Enzel (Chevy Chase, MD USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project, 1955-1958 (Hardcover)

This collection of photograph shows what Pittsburgh was like while the steel mills functioned there. But the images capture all facets of life in Pittsburgh during this era, not just life in the mills. For example, you will see a couple playing shuffleboard at the Fox Chapel Country Club and contrast that with street scenes of poor neighborhoods. You'll see the fine old Mellon Bank building in dowtown Pittsburgh and the Duquesne Club nearby. The pictures of men laboring near the furnaces of Pittsburgh's steel mills portray the lives these men led in contrast.

I also enjoyed the pictures of Forbes Field and its envrions, the former home of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The book includes a wonderful picture of "Home Plate Cafe" and the home of the "Original Kolbassi Sandwich."

The pictures are beautifully reproduced. The book is reasonably priced consudering the quality of what you get. The photography is superb.

If you know Pittsburgh, it is a trip down memory lane. If you don't know what Pittsburgh was then like, this book will show you.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, especially if you can't see the gallery, December 31, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Dream Street: W. Eugene Smith's Pittsburgh Project, 1955-1958 (Hardcover)

The Pittsburgh project gallery (shown in Pgh and other cities this year) is a fantastic display of nearly 200 prints that comprise one of the most important works of a great photographer. While reproductions hardly do justice to most fine prints, I recommend this book as a companion to the show, as well as a way to view the work if you are not able to see the gallery at one of the few cities in which it appears. I grew up in Pittsburgh, though long after these shots were taken. It is a spectacular look at mid-century Pittsburgh, and mid-century America.