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Weegee Art

American, 1899-1968
Arthur Fellig, who later assumed the pseudonym Weegee, was a photographer and photojournalist, best known for his gritty black-and-white imagery taken on the streets of New York City. Born in 1899 in what is now the Ukraine, he arrived in the United States with his family in 1909, and settled in Brooklyn. After working in a variety of photography-related jobs, he struck out on his own at the age of 35 as a self-taught freelance photographer, selling his work to publications like the Herald Tribune, the Daily News, the Post, and the Sun. Weegee worked mostly at night, usually around Manhattan Police Headquarters. He was the only freelancer in New York to obtain permission to install a police radio in his car. As a result, he was often the first to arrive at the scene of the many crimes he photographed, often before the police themselves had responded. Moreover, he traveled with a makeshift darkroom in the trunk of his car, so he could produce, and then sell, his images faster than his competitors. But crime was not his only subject. He also photographed socialites at high-society events, circus performers, street life, tenement housing conditions, and many other facets of New York life. For a number of years he traveled extensively in Europe, and worked for the London Daily Mirror. He later returned to New York City, where he died in 1968. Th Museum of Modern Art began collecting his work in 1943, and featured it in several exhibitions. His work was also shown at the New York Photo League, and the International Center of Photography hosted a retrospective of his work in 1998. He has been featured in exhibitions at European venues such as the Kunsthalle Vienna, Austria's Flatz Museum, and the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow. Several monographs of his work have been published.
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Artist: Weegee
Welcome to the Rent Party
Welcome to the Rent Party

Welcome to the Rent Party

By Weegee

Located in Toronto, Ontario

The inimitable and notorious photographer known as Weegee, (aka. Arthur Fellig) exposed the scope of New York’s nightlife; whether it was celebrating high-culture or low-life revelle...

Category

1950s Modern Weegee Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Distortion: Drum
Distortion: Drum

Distortion: Drum

By Weegee

Located in Toronto, Ontario

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...

Category

1950s Photorealist Weegee Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Distortion: Painter
Distortion: Painter

Distortion: Painter

By Weegee

Located in Toronto, Ontario

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...

Category

1950s Photorealist Weegee Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Weegee "Sailor and Girl Kissing"
Weegee "Sailor and Girl Kissing"

Weegee "Sailor and Girl Kissing"

By Weegee

Located in Toronto, Ontario

Weegee (1899-1968) was equally fascinated and inspired by cinema and all of its tangents, from Hollywood movie stars to ordinary civilians going to the movies. While Weegee is typically associated with crime/disaster images, the broad theme of "entertainment" is a major component of his oeuvre. An interesting and provocative sub-genre of his cinema-related work are his images of couples (often heavy-petting) in movie theatres. Recent scholarship has established that many of Weegee's supposed clandestine images were actually staged or arranged with friends or co-operative strangers. Nevertheless, Weegee created these photographs in the dark with an array of clever techniques including infrared film, filtered flashbulb and triangular prism lens. Employed in shots such as this one, the prism lens would allow the artist to “see around corners,” useful at times when his subjects were in compromising locations. These images of kissing couples, Weegee wrote in 1959, were “his best seller, year in and year out.” "Sailor and GIrl at the Movies...

Category

1940s American Modern Weegee Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Weegee "Distortion: Stripes"
Weegee "Distortion: Stripes"

Weegee "Distortion: Stripes"

By Weegee

Located in Toronto, Ontario

Innovative, provocative, inimitable - these are just a few of the words to describe America's boldest photographer. Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee (1899-1968) was a ground-breaking, successful (and notorious) photojournalist. His images shot on the streets of New York City are iconic and influential. In the 1930s he became the first New York City press photographer to obtain permission to install a police radio in his car. This allowed him to follow the city's first responders and to document their duties; responding to fire, crime, debauchery and of course, murder. By the early 1940s Weegee was experiencing fatigue with crime reportage. Ironically, this was also the point when he finally began experiencing professional validation and acclaim, to the point of being a minor celebrity. Notably in 1941 he was included in The MoMA's seminal "50 Photographs by 50 Photographers" (curated by Edward Steichen). The museum would also acquire five Weegee photographs...

Category

1940s American Modern Weegee Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Waterski Jumper
Waterski Jumper

Waterski Jumper

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Located in Toronto, Ontario

Arthur Felling, better known as Weegee (1899-1968) is America's premiere photojournalist and one of the last century's most influential photographers. He would become famous, beyond...

Category

1950s American Modern Weegee Art

Materials

Silver Gelatin

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1940s American Modern Weegee Art

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Silver Gelatin

Weegee art for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Weegee art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Weegee in silver gelatin print, archival pigment print, pigment print and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the modern style. Not every interior allows for large Weegee art, so small editions measuring 5 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Dan Budnik, Marion Post Wolcott, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Weegee art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $938 and tops out at $15,000, while the average work can sell for $3,550.