Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 5

Weegee 'Cafe Romance', New York, 1953

About the Item

Weegee (Ukranian/American 1899-1968) Title: 'Cafe Romance', New York 1953 Gelatin silver print Signed, titled, dated in ink au verso 'Corkin Gallery' label au verso stamped "weegee the famous" au verso Image size: 11" x 13.5" Mat size: 21" x 24" Biography: Probably few policemen have seen as much violent sin as Arthur Fellig, better known as Weegee, did. Specializing in crime and catastrophe, Weegee’s work is regarded as some of the most powerful images of the 20th century. His profound influence on other photographers derives not only from his sensational subject matter and his use of the blinding, close-up flash, but also from his eagerness to photograph the city at all hours, at all levels: coffee shops at three in the morning, hot summer evenings in the tenements, debutante balls, parties in the street, lovers on park benches, the destitute and the lonely. No other photographer has better revealed the non-stop spectacle of life in New York City. During the 1930s and 1940s Weegee worked as a freelance news photographer in New York City, and was the first private citizen to gain access to police radio transmits. He lived across the street from Manhattan police headquarters waiting for the inevitable call that would announce another gangland execution, botched hold-up, or crime of passion. Weegee’s first book, Naked City, was a runaway success, making him an instant celebrity who suddenly had assignments from Life and Vogue. He was among the first to fully realize the camera’s unique power to capture split-second drama and exaggerated emotion. By the mid-40s, Weegee photographed the furred and bejeweled grandes damesat the Metropolitan Opera and celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Andy Warhol, John F. Kennedy, and Liberace, as well as his beloved street people. No other photographer has ever portrayed a city with Weegee's level of intimacy, amorality, complicitness and humor. While his intent was simply to photograph "the soul of the city I knew and loved," his unflinching eye set the trend for young, edgy photographers in the 1960s. He strips the citizens bare, all of them, poor, rich and middling. There is no looking down or looking up: he is too mixed up in everything he sees, too much part of the shenanigans, exposing the bare truth of a city filled with hungers, lusts, and passions. Collections: The Indianapolis Museum of Art J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art, New York City San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, United Kingdom Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles International Center of Photography, New York City Selected Solo Exhibitions: 2012 Weegee: Murder Is My Business- International Center of Photography, New York City Weegee: Naked City – Steven Kasher Gallery, New York City 2011 Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles – The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 2006 Unknown Weegee – International Center of Photography, New York City 2003 Weegee’s Trick Photography – International Center of Photography, New York City 1997 Weegee’s World: Life, Death and the Human Drama – International Center of Photography, New York City 1977 Weegee the Famous – International Center of Photography, New York City 1962 Weegee by Weegee – Photokina, Cologne, Germany 1960 Weegee: Charicatures of the Great – Photokina, Cologne, Germany 1941 Weegee: Murder is my Business – The Photo League, New York City Selected Group Exhibitions: 2004 Out of Place – Galerie Nordenhake, Berlin 1948 50 Photographs by 50 Photographers – The Museum of Modern Art, New York City 1943 Action Photography – The Museum of Modern Art, New York City Selected Publications: Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles published by Skira Rizzoli (2011) Weegee: Murder Is My Business published by ICP (2011) Unknown Weegee published by ICP/Steidl (2006) Weegee: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum published by Getty Publications (2005) Weegee published by Phaidon (2004) Weegee’s World published by Bulfinch (2000) Weegee’s New York Photography 1935-1960 published by Te Neues (2000) The Village published by Da Capo Press (1989) Weegee the Famous published by Capa, Cornell, and Coplans (1977) Weegee’s Creative Photography published by Ward Lock (1964) Weegee by Weegee: An Autobiography published by Da Capo Press (1961) Weegee’s Creative Camera published by Hanover House (1959) Weegee’s Secrets of Shooting with Photoflash published by Designers 3 (1953) Naked Hollywood published by Pellegrini and Cudahy (1953) Weegee’s People published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce (1946) Naked City published by Duell, Sloan & Pearce (1945).
  • Creator:
    Weegee 1 (Photographer)
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 24 in (60.96 cm)Depth: 0.25 in (6.35 mm)
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    1953
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    Hamilton, CA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1355213893901
More From This SellerView All
  • Art Deco Photographs from The Strand Theatre in Times Square, Broadway, New York
    Located in Hamilton, Ontario
    Five original photographs from live Broadway performances at the historic Strand Theater. The Strand Theatre was originally an early movie palace locate...
    Category

    Vintage 1920s American Art Deco Photography

    Materials

    Paper

  • Andre Kertesz 'Montmarte', Paris, 1963
    By Andre Kertesz
    Located in Hamilton, Ontario
    Andre Kertesz (Hungarian/American 1894-1985) Title: 'Montmarte', Paris, 1963 Gelatin silver print Signed in ink titled, dated '10-31-63' in artists hand in ink au verso 'Cork...
    Category

    20th Century Unknown Photography

  • Michael Kenna 'Trees-Richmond-Surrey-England', 1975
    By Michael Kenna 1
    Located in Hamilton, Ontario
    Michael Kenna (American/British, born 1953) Title: Trees-Richmond-Surrey-England, 1975 Medium: Selenium tone gelatin silver print. Artist signed and dated in pencil. No. 43 of 90. Print Date: 1981. Sheet size: 6.6" x 8.5" Frame size: 16.75" x 20.75" Biography: Michael Kenna is a photographer who was born in Widnes, England, and is best known for his photographs of black-and-white landscapes. In his early years of education, he attended the Banbury School of Art, where he took up studies in painting and photography. He later became a student at the London College of Printing, where he began working as an artist and a photographer. Kenna is one of five children born to Irish-Catholic parents. Before discovering his passion for art, he aspired to enter the priesthood because of his Irish-Catholic background. Kenna moved to San Francisco in 1977. The photographer took his first trip to Japan in 1987, and he was deeply impressed by the terrain of the country. Over the years, Kenna has visited and photographed almost every part of Japan. These visits spawned the book Japan, which featured more than 95 photographs of the country. This book is one of 18 published works by Kenna. Some of his other photography collections includeMont-Saint-Michel, Montecito Garden, Hokkaido, The Rouge, and The Hound of the Baskervilles...
    Category

    20th Century English Photography

  • Horst P. Horst 'Electric Beauty', 'Blanche Grady, ' Paris, 1939
    By Horst P. Horst
    Located in Hamilton, Ontario
    Horst P. Horst (German/American 1906-1999) Title 'Electric Beauty', (Blanche Grady), Paris, 1939. Signed in Pencil. Edition 5 of 10. Platinum Print Refere...
    Category

    20th Century Photography

  • Ralph Gibson 'Artifacts'
    By Ralph Gibson
    Located in Hamilton, Ontario
    Ralph Gibson (American born 1939) Title: 'Artifacts' Full portfolio containing 10 photographs on fibre based silver gelatin photographic paper and clamshell box Each piece signed ...
    Category

    20th Century American Photography

  • Linda McCartney, 'Autumn', 1987
    By Linda McCartney
    Located in Hamilton, Ontario
    Linda McCartney (American 1941-1998) "Autumn" 1987 From the Sun Prints series 9.5 x 8 blue cyanotype signed on the image sheet size 14.5 x 16 matt size 15 x 18.75 used for book Sun Prints page 64 Jane Corkin gallery label on verso. Biography: Linda Louise McCartney (née Eastman) was born in Scarsdale, New York, on 24th September 1941. She graduated from Scarsdale High School, Westchester County, New York in 1960, and went on to study at the University of Arizona, where she majored in art history. Although her formal training extended to just two lessons on photography that she attended at a night school whilst studying as an art history major at the University of Arizona, the pictures by Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Edward Weston that she discovered there – along with her later introduction to the photography of Edward Steichen – inspired and influenced Linda’s work. Linda was also fascinated by the history of photography and honoured the early photographic pioneer William Henry Fox by producing handcrafted cyanotype prints. Linda experimented with other printing processes throughout her career as well as producing thousands of Polaroids. Linda got her first big break as a photographer while working as an editorial receptionist at Town and Country Magazine. She used an unwanted invitation to a Rolling Stones promotional party on the SS Sea Panther on the Hudson River to document the event and photograph the band. The magazine was so impressed with Linda’s candid, intimate and relaxed photographs of the Rolling Stones that they published her images in an editorial feature – her first of many magazine commissions. Linda became a professional photographer in the mid-sixties. Her pictures during this period chronicled the musical revolution of the decade. Whilst working as the house photographer at the Fillmore East in New York City she photographed many iconic musicians including; The Rolling Stones, Otis Redding, B.B. King, The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Frank Zappa, The Beach Boys, The Who, Cream, The Kinks, Traffic, The Byrds and Jimi Hendrix. Linda’s photograph of Eric Clapton for Rolling Stone magazine’s 11th May 1968 issue made her the first female photographer to have work featured on the magazine’s cover In 1967, after being named US female photographer of the year, Linda was in London to shoot an assignment on the ‘Swinging Sixties’. Linda met Paul McCartney at the Bag O’Nails Club and then again four days later at the launch of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band at Brian Epstein’s house in Belgravia. A year later they married at Marylebone Registry Office, London, March 12th, 1969. After receiving credits on Paul’s solo album RAM, Linda joined Paul on stage, as keyboard player and vocalist, in Wings. Throughout her time in Wings Linda documented her travels and family life on and off stage. She went on to write and record several songs of her own, including ‘Seaside Woman’, released in 1977 through Epic Records in the US, under the band name Suzy and The Red Stripes. Linda’s album Wide Prairie was release posthumously in 1998. In 1989, Linda began to pioneer another passion, to save the lives of animals through promoting the vegetarian lifestyle that she and Paul and long embraced. Her first two vegetarian cookbooks...
    Category

    20th Century American Photography

You May Also Like
  • Large Susan Wides New York Photographer Garden Series "New Dawn"
    By Susan Wides
    Located in Cincinnati, OH
    A large Susan Wides photograph / chromogenic print from "The Name of And" series titled "New Dawn" taken in various botanical gardens in North America , her photos have been exhibite...
    Category

    Late 20th Century American Modern Photography

    Materials

    Paper

  • Vintage New York Lower East Side Photograph
    Located in Brooklyn, NY
    Manhattan's historic Orchard street in the lower east side photographed circa late 1940s Vintage original gelatin silver print, printed circa late-1950s Dimensions: 16 x 20 inche...
    Category

    Vintage 1940s Photography

    Materials

    Paper

  • The Timeline History of New York City Book
    Located in North Hollywood, CA
    The Timeline History of New York City Book Playne Books Ltd; Worth Press Ltd; Hardcover book. A hands-on presentation of New York's history feat...
    Category

    21st Century and Contemporary American Expressionist Books

    Materials

    Paper

  • Louis Stettner Subway New York 1946 Printed, circa 1990
    By Louis Stettner
    Located in Hudson, NY
    Louis Stettner, Subway New York, 1946, printed circa 1990. This image is illustrated the book " Traveling Light". It was published to celebrate a major...
    Category

    Vintage 1940s American Modern Photography

    Materials

    Paper

  • Large Historical Brighton Beach New York Railroad Bridge Photo
    By Acme Photo
    Located in Cincinnati, OH
    A large original vintage historical builders photo of the Brighton Beach railroad bridge at Neptune Ave. Hand lettering on the mat are the names of the ...
    Category

    Antique Late 19th Century American Industrial Photography

    Materials

    Paper

  • The Forties As Reported By The New York Times
    Located in North Hollywood, CA
    The Forties: As Reported By The New York Times By Keylin, Arleen; Cohen, Jonathan. Title The Forties: As Reported by the New York Times Author Keyli...
    Category

    20th Century American Folk Art Books

    Materials

    Paper

Recently Viewed

View All