Overview
Weegee (1899-1968) is the archetypal tabloid photographer of the twentieth century, delivering both harrowing and poignant photographs of crime scenes and criminals to New York's tabloid-reading public in the 1930s and 1940s. Weegee's photographic eye was unstoppable: drawn to the grotesque, the illicit, and the illegal. Preferring to photograph under the cover of night, he was known for his aggressive use of flash. Born Arthur Fellig, he was named after the Ouija board for his uncanny ability to arrive at the scene of a crime before the police, Weegee recorded the dark side of New York's streets. Weegee was ahead of his time in understanding the combination of shock and entertainment, as well as the simultaneous conflict between repulsion and attraction to vivid photographs of crimes of passion, murder, and brutal accidents. The originality of his photographs elevated them in importance far beyond the newspapers he worked for, and even today when images of violence are commonplace in society; his photographs still have the power to shock.
Synopsis
Weegee (1899-1968) is the archetypal tabloid photographer of the twentieth century, delivering both harrowing and poignant photographs of crime scenes and criminals to New York's tabloid-reading public in the 1930s and 1940s. Weegee's photographic eye was unstoppable: drawn to the grotesque, the illicit, and the illegal. Preferring to photograph under the cover of night, he was known for his aggressive use of flash. Born Arthur Fellig, he was named after the Ouija board for his uncanny ability to arrive at the scene of a crime before the police, Weegee recorded the dark side of New York's streets. Weegee was ahead of his time in understanding the combination of shock and entertainment, as well as the simultaneous conflict between repulsion and attraction to vivid photographs of crimes of passion, murder, and brutal accidents. The originality of his photographs elevated them in importance far beyond the newspapers he worked for, and even today when images of violence are commonplace in society; his photographs still have the power to shock.