Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
- Introduction
- Arthur (Usher) Fellig (June 12, 1899 – December 26, 1968), known by his pseudonym Weegee, was a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography in New York City.Weegee worked in Manhattan's Lower East Side as a press photographer during the 1930s and 1940s and developed his signature style by following the city's emergency services and documenting their activity. Much of his work depicted unflinchingly realistic scenes of urban life, crime, injury and death. Weegee published photographic books and also worked in cinema, initially making his own short films and later collaborating with film directors such as Jack Donohue and Stanley Kubrick.
- Wikidata
- Q445857
- Introduction
- American photographer, active in New York City and Hollywood. Arthur Fellig, known as Weegee professionally, is noted for his photographs depicting crime and other newsworthy events, usually taken at night. His early career was spent as a freelance press photographer. He prided himself on his ability to arrive at the scene of a crime before the police, and derived his name from the phonetic pronunciation of the Ouija board. He sold his images to tabloid newspapers from 1935 through the 1940s, and published his first book, Naked City in 1945, followed by Weegee's People in 1946. Naked City was a commercial success and guaranteed his income. At this point he began taking portraits of celebrities and figures in the entertainment industry. He used a variety of trick lenses to distort and manipulate these images, and often exposed or exagerrated the imperfections of his subjects. He experimented with infrared film and flash to make exposures in darkness, particularly of people in darkened movie theaters. Weegee used a 4x5 Speed Graphic press camera and flash exclusively throughout his career; and is not known for his printing virtuosity, but for the elements of social critique in his photographs. He was a flamboyant character, and revelled in his own notoreity and mythology.
- Nationalities
- American, Central European, Eastern European, Polish
- Gender
- Male
- Roles
- Artist, Photographer
- Names
- Weegee, Arthur H. Fellig, Arthur Fellig, Weegee the Famous, Usher Fellig, Weejee, Vig'i, Artur Felig, Asher Felig, אשר פליג
- Ulan
- 500032312
Exhibitions
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409: Gordon Parks and “The Atmosphere of Crime”
Ongoing
MoMA
Collection gallery
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The Shape of Things: Photographs from Robert B. Menschel
Oct 29, 2016–May 7, 2017
MoMA
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Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection,
1909–1949 Dec 13, 2014–Apr 19, 2015
MoMA
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Photography Rotation 8
May 13, 2011–Mar 12, 2012
MoMA
-
Photography Collection: Rotation 4
Dec 15, 2006–Jul 16, 2007
MoMA
-
Weegee (Arthur Fellig) has
21 exhibitionsonline.
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Tenement Fire 1939
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Coney Island July 22, 1940
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Self Portrait in Police Van c. 1940
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) My Man 1941
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Street Accident 1941
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Brooklyn School Children See Gambler Murdered in Street 1941
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Booked on Suspicion of Killing a Policeman January 1941
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Harry Maxwell Shot in Car 1941
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Harold Horn, Knocked Over Milk Wagon with Stolen Car 1941
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Captured Burglar 1941
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Saloon Brawl 1942
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Charles Sodokoff and Arthur Webber Use Their Top Hats to Hide Their Faces 1942
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Time is Short 1942
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Thomas E. Dewey and Photographers 1942
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Woman Shot from Cannon, New York 1943
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Woman Shot from Cannon, New York 1943
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade c. 1942
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) The Critic 1943
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Frank Pape, Arrested for Homicide, November 10, 1944 November 10, 1944
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Refugees from a Tenement Fire c. 1943
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Victory Celebration 1945
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Weegee (Arthur Fellig) Movie Theater Distortion c. 1950
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