Arthur Felling, better known as Weegee (1899-1968) was America's premiere photojournalist and one of the 20th century's most influential photographers.
He would become famous--beyond New York and news circles--after the publication of his photo books Naked City (1945) and Weegee's People (1946).
Weegee's images of urban life including crime, disaster, and tragedy are both iconic and highly influential. Less well-known, however, is the work he focused on during the last twenty years of his life: known as the 'distortions' period. In the late 1940s, Weegee began experimenting with photographic manipulation both in the darkroom and using an array of filters, many of which were his own invention, on his camera.
Weegee created distortions of a wide range of subjects; celebrities, architecture, circus life, and nudes. Of course, one of the overarching themes of his work was the idea of spectacle. What do people, for better or worse, like to look at?
In this evocative distortion, the photograph has been mirrored and multiplied. Featuring a kaleidoscopic study of London's Big Ben, this exemplifies Weegee's embrace of experimentation as he transformed ordinary scenes into complex, dreamlike compositions, where the subject matter evolves into a pattern or an abstraction.
This innovative approach highlighted his creative versatility and established him as an artist willing to blur the lines between documentary realism and avant-garde art, adding new dimensions to his photographic legacy.
Weegee’s photography can be found in scores of museums and private collections worldwide: the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Museum of Modern Art, Oxford; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; International Center of Photography, New York and more.
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"Big Ben, London"
1960
Gelatin silver print, ferrotyped
London Express News stamp, verso
Additional notations verso
8"H 10"W (sheet)
Detailed condition report by request. Overall very good condition.
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