{"id":13358,"date":"2012-04-17T09:49:00","date_gmt":"2012-04-17T08:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amateurphotographer.co.uk\/uncategorized\/weegee-1899-1968-iconic-photographer-13358"},"modified":"2014-10-23T11:28:54","modified_gmt":"2014-10-23T10:28:54","slug":"weegee-1899-1968-iconic-photographer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/other.kelsey.host\/amateurphotographer\/iconic-images\/weegee-1899-1968-iconic-photographer\/","title":{"rendered":"Weegee 1899-1968 – Iconic Photographer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image: Weegee riding a stuffed donkey, 1942 \u00a9 Getty
\nImages\/ICP<\/strong><\/em>
\n <\/p>\n


\nArthur Fellig, known by the nickname \u2018Weegee’, was one of the first and
\ncertainly most successful of a new generation of tabloid news photographers to
\nemerge in the 1930s. Enterprising, determined and with a gift for
\nself-promotion, he tirelessly documented life and crime on New York’s streets.<\/p>\n


\n
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He was driven by the desire to get his pictures on the
\nnewspapers’ front pages and loved the challenge of shooting the first and best
\npictures of an event. \u2018News photography,’ he said in a 1958 interview, \u2018teaches
\nyou to think fast, to be sure of yourself, be self-confident. When you go out
\non a story, you don’t go back for another sitting. You gotta get it.’<\/p>\n


\n
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\n <\/p>\n

Born into an Austrian-Jewish family that emigrated to the US
\nin 1910, he was, in his words, \u2018a natural-born photographer, with hypo in my
\nblood’ and earned a living in photography from an early age. He was entirely
\nself-taught and his first job, when leaving school at the age of 14, was
\nworking as a \u2018tintype’ photographer, snapping portraits of people in the
\nstreets. In the next, he was a commercial photographer’s assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

Weegee (although he was known as Arthur until the late
\n1930s) moved out of his strict family home when he was 18 and was homeless for
\na period, while working in a number of low-paid jobs, such as labouring and
\ndishwashing. He returned to photography in 1918, when he worked in a Lower
\nManhattan studio, then as a darkroom assistant for The New York Times.<\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

The turning point in his life came while working for Acme
\nNewspictures in the mid-1920s, when he was asked to shoot some news pictures
\nbecause the staff photographers were unavailable. His growing confidence as a
\nphotographer and frustration at not being credited for his pictures led to him
\nstarting a career as a freelance news photographer in 1935. <\/p>\n


\n
\n
\n <\/p>\n

For the next decade, Weegee worked as a news photographer.
\nHe focused particularly on crime and producing the body of work for which he is
\nmost famous: stark and sometimes gruesome black & white pictures showing
\nthe aftermath of murders, accidents and suicides. He was fascinated by New
\nYork’s seedy underbelly, particularly its gangland shootings. \u2018I’m very
\nsensitive and artistic and hate the sight of blood,’ he famously remarked, \u2018but
\nI’m spellbound by the mystery of murder.’<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/img><\/p>\n


\n
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Image: The victim of a motor accident lies by the side of
\nthe West Side Highway in New York, covered by a sheet, 1939 \u00a9 Getty Images\/ICP<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Weegee was also interested in shooting less obvious
\ncrime-scene pictures, consciously stepping back to include the local
\nenvironment as a backdrop or turning the camera on crowds of onlookers. <\/p>\n


\n
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In his 1941 picture, \u2018Their First Murder’, which originally
\nran under the headline \u2018Brooklyn Schoolchildren See Gambler Murdered in Street’,
\nWeegee’s flashgun illuminates the faces of children caught up in the macabre
\nfascination generated by a killing in their neighbourhood. The children’s
\nexcitement contrasts with the grief of the victim’s aunt, shown in the centre
\nof the frame.
\n <\/p>\n


\nHe developed an offhand, darkly humorous way of referring to his crime work.
\n\u2018The easiest kind of a job to cover is a murder,’ he said, \u2018because the stiff
\nwill be laying on the ground, he couldn’t get up and walk away or get
\ntemperamental, and he would be good for at least two hours. So I had plenty of
\ntime.’
\n <\/p>\n


\nWeegee used the standard press camera of the era, a Speed Graphic 5×4. Most of
\nhis work was done at night using flash with the camera preset at 1\/200sec at
\nf\/16 and the focus set to 10ft. He was meticulously organised and he converted
\nthe boot of his Chevrolet into a portable office, filled with useful items,
\nincluding a typewriter, spare photographic kit and a change of clothes.
\n <\/p>\n


\nHe was relentless in his pursuit of news stories and developed a network of contacts
\nwho gave him information that assisted his work. \u2018I was friend and confidant to
\nthem all, the bookies, madams, gamblers, call girls, pimps, con men, burglars
\nand jewel fencers,’ he said in his book, Weegee by Weegee (1961). <\/p>\n

<\/img>Image: A crowd gathers in Brooklyn, New York City, to see the corpse of a man
\nshot twice by an unknown gunman as he sat parked at a traffic light, 1941 \u00a9
\nGetty Images\/ICP
\n
\n <\/strong><\/em> <\/p>\n


\nHowever, his \u2018sixth sense’ for being first at crime scenes (which resulted in
\nhis nickname, which came from the word \u2018ouija’) wasn’t entirely due to
\ncultivating his contacts. In 1938, he got official permission to install a
\npolice radio in his car and from then on was able to cover news stories as they
\nwere happening – and steal a march on his rivals.
\n <\/p>\n


\nWeegee was more than just another news photographer, however, and by the early
\n1940s his pictures were becoming accepted in fine-art circles. He held his
\nfirst exhibition in 1941, and two years later five of his prints were acquired
\nby New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
\n <\/p>\n


\nHis highly successful book, Naked City (1945), which featured his images of New
\nYork crime, fires, nightlife and entertainment, led to a new direction in his
\nwork. When it inspired a film noir of the same title, he moved to Hollywood and
\nacted as a consultant, advising on the film’s visual style. He stayed in
\nHollywood until 1952 and worked as both director and producer.
\n <\/p>\n


\nBy the 1950s, Weegee was himself a celebrity and wanted to pursue more artistic
\nprojects, exploring different photographic subject matter and techniques. His
\n\u2018caricatures’, distorted portraits of celebrities including Marilyn Monroe,
\nmade by experimenting with different lenses and printing techniques, were
\npublished his book, Naked Hollywood. However, the work wasn’t generally well received.
\n <\/p>\n


\nHis best and most authentic photography was the work he did in capturing life
\non New York’s streets, where he was both an observer and a part of the
\ncommunity. Weegee himself recognised that the empathy he felt for his subjects
\nwas integral to the photographs. In Naked City, he wrote: \u2018When you find
\nyourself beginning to feel a bond between yourself and the people you
\nphotograph, when you laugh and cry with their laughter and tears, you will know
\nyou are on the right track.’ <\/p>\n


\n
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\n <\/p>\n

Biography<\/h2>\n


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\n <\/p>\n