Tomoko and Mother in the Bath

W. Eugene Smith, artist

1918–1978

Tomoko and Mother in the Bath, 1972

Portfolio/Series title: published in LIFE, 1972

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: gelatin silver print

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 28.5 x 47 cm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 11 1/4 x 18 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 25 in

Credit line: Museum purchase

Accession number: 1973.0004

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Inventing Childhood

Few images encapsulate the depths of motherly love as evocatively as W. Eugene Smith’s photograph of Ryoko Uemura bathing her 16-year-old daughter, Tomoko. Tomoko suffered from Minamata disease, a type of heavy metal poisoning that affected Japanese children and adults after a chemical plant knowingly discharged mercury into Minamata Bay. Uemura worked closely with Smith to capture an intimate portrait that showed the crippling physical and emotional effects of Minamata disease. This photograph does this and more: in a pose that evokes the Pietà (pity) imagery of Mary as she cradles the body of Jesus after his crucifixion, it communicates the powerful bond of love and devotion that can exist between a mother and her child.

Exhibition Label:
"The Family in Photography," Dec-1997, Stefanie Vigil
This scene of a mother bathing her severely disabled 16-year-old daughter was part of a series Smith did for "Life" magazine to document an environmental crime in Japan. A chemical production plant had regularly and knowingly discharged deadly mercury into Minimata Bay, maiming adults and causing central nervous system damage in many children, including Uemura. This image, which Smith first titled "Mother and Child," recalls pieta figures of Christ and the Virgin Mary.7