About This Image

Lorenza Curiel in her first communion dress waiting for her mother to lock the door. This was the full-page lead-off photograph for Smith's photo essay in Life magazine, April 9, 1951. The photo essay, 'Spanish Village', one of Smith's most important, was a departure from the strict narrative constraints of his previous work. He documents life in Deleitosa, a small rural town with an ancient traditional way of life that looked like it hadn't changed in centuries.

Scarce original photograph printed by the photographer, with the photographer's estate stamp on verso of print, but the print has been mounted after it was stamped. There is a signed note from Maggie Smith on verso of mount to this effect. Provenance: from the photographer to his longtime companion, Margery Smith.

See: Capa, Cornell (Editor), The Concerned Photographer 2. Grossman Publishers. 1972. n.p.; Mora, Gilles and Hill, John T. (Editors), W. Eugene Smith, Photographs 1934-1975. New York. Harry Abrams, 1998. pg 120; LIFE Magazine, April 9, 1951 pg. 120; Johnson, William S., Master of the Photographic Essay, W. Eugene Smith. New York. Aperture. 1981. Pg. 79.

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