Edwin Smith

(b London, 15 May 1912; d Saffron Walden, 29 Dec 1971). English photographer. He studied architecture from 1928 to 1930 at the Northern Polytechnic in Holloway, London. In 1930 he won a scholarship to the Architectural Association School in London, but was forced to leave in 1932 due to lack of money. He then gained a job as an architectural assistant but, finding this too constraining, left after a year. He was an adept painter and draughtsman and taught himself the techniques of photography, mostly under the influence of Eug?ne Atget. After leaving the architectural office he became a freelance photographer for book work, concentrating on landscape and architectural projects. In 1935 he worked briefly for Vogue and, though not inspired by fashion photography, established his reputation in this field. Between 1935 and 1938 he produced a number of works of the fairground and circus such as Fairground Entertainers, Hampstead (1938; see Cook, pl. 30), as well as a series of images of life in London and elswhere, such as Somers Town, London (1936; see Cook, pl. 14).

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Smith, Edwin (1912-71), English photographer. As with a number of talented photographers of his generation, Smith saw himself more as a painter who had taken up the camera by chance. Trained as an architect, his first encounter with the medium came when he saw some of Atget's photographs as a student, and bought a Box Brownie with coupons from cornflake packets. It was soon replaced with a 1904 Ruby plate camera, used almost until his death. Highly successful as an architectural, landscape, and garden photographer, his studies for English Paris Churches (1952) are still in print. His work on the streets and people of Camden Town, and on the world of the fairground and circus, deserves to be better known.

— Peter Hamilton

Bibliography

• Edwin Smith: Photographs 1935-1971, introd. O. Cook (1984)