Arthur Felling, better known as Weegee (1899-1968) was a highly-successful (and notorious) photojournalist/artist. In addition to contributing an enormous number of images to various American newspapers, he would become famous, beyond New York and news circles, after the publication of Naked City (1945) and Weegee's People (1946).
Weegee began shooting scenes of crime, drama, tragedy and depravity throughout New York City in the 1930s for Acme newspapers. In 1935 he became a freelancer, mostly contributing to PM magazine. While his nickname derived from his ability to find and capture urban mayhem, in 1938 he was granted permission to install a police radio in his car. This facilitated capturing the most shocking moments as a first-responder/journalist.
Weegee was celebrated in his time. The New York Photo League exhibited his work in 1941 and he was included in the MoMA's seminal exhibition "50 Photographs by 50 Photographers," curated by Edward Steichen. In 1945, Weegee published his widely admired and commercially successful book, "Naked City." Surprisingly, shortly after the book's release, Weegee abandoned crime photography and moved to Los Angeles.
In L.A., Weegee's relationship with the medium experienced a radical shift. He began experimentations in abstraction, distortions and engaged with disrupting the photo development process in order to create non-figural works. Some scholars have suggested that Weegee was following the avant-garde and art world as he shifted to abstraction.
This work is a paradigm of Weegee's mid-century abstract work. While a figure can still be made out, the op-art type of visual illusion sends vibrations through the picture plane, leading viewers to question what they're really looking at. See another, more abstracted image with a similar distortion here.
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Gelatin silver print
USA, circa 1950
10"H 8.25"W (work)
Photographer's credit and '47th Street' stamps verso
Overall good condition. Full report on request.
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