Woman with Bread, Spain
Artist
W. Eugene Smith
(American, 1918 - 1978)
Date1950
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 13 3/8 × 10 3/8 inches (33.97 × 26.35 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.309
InscribedSignature
Signed in artist's hand
Front of Print
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of a woman carrying a tray of round bread loaves over her head. She's entering a doorway on the right in an alley with a small dog in the background.Gallery LabelThis image was first published in W. Eugene Smith’s photo essay “Spanish Village: It Lives in Ancient Poverty and Faith,” in the April 9, 1951 issue of LIFE magazine. Praised for its poignant depiction of impoverished rural life under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1892–1975), the essay emphasized the humanity of the village’s residents as they went about their daily chores, despite their lack of modern facilities. The caption to this image describes 18-year-old Bernadina Curiel, engaged in “young woman’s work,” that required her to bake, at least once a week, “24 loaves of bread for the family of eight.”
Purchased by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1988;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
Copyright© W. Eugene Smith / Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
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