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Weegee's New York: Photographs, 1935-1960
Weegee’s New Photographs 1935–1960 Weegee’s legendary camera recorded an unmatched pictorial chronicle of a legendary time. Weegee’s New York is the New York of the thirties and forties, a city marked by the Great Depression, by unemployment and poverty, by mob violence and prostitution. He was the first news photographer allowed a police radio in his car. Racing through Manhattan’s streets after midnight, he often beat the cops to the scene of the crime to shoot the pictures which would scream from the pages of the Daily News and the Daily Mirror next morning. They still jump from the page with a restless immediacy and intense nervousness that has never been surpassed. The 335 photographs collected in this new softcover reprint tell the astonishing story of New York during one of its most violent and exciting periods. The introductory essay is by the former editor of Art Forum, John Coplans. Essay by Weegee Weegee (1899-1968),was born Arthur Fellig in what is now a part of Poland and arrived in New York at the age of ten. During his ten years at Manhattan’s police headquarters he published 5,000 photos that made him the most famous of a new breed of hardboiled news photographers. His book Naked City (later made into a film) was published in 1945, followed in 1953 by Naked Hollywood. John Coplans, born in 1920 in England, immigrated to the US in 1960. In 1962 he founded the periodical Artforum serving as its editor until 1980. He was director of the Art Gallery of University of California at Irvine; senior curator at the Pasadena Art Museum; and director of the Akron Art Museum, Ohio. At age sixty he took up photography full-time. 335 duotone plates.
335 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
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About the author
Weegee
32 books21 followersWeegee was the pseudonym of Ascher (later anglicized to Usher) Fellig, who emigrated to the United States when he was ten and was renamed Arthur. He was an American photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 17, 2017
A quote by Walter Benjamin is used as an epigraph at the very beginning of Weegee's New York: Photographs 1935 - 1960. In part, it reads:
"...is not every spot of our cities the scene of a crime? every passerby a perpetrator? Does not the photographer - descendant of augurers and haruspices - uncover guilt in his pictures?"
The quote is noteworthy for questioning the role played by news photographers such as Weegee. After all, as becomes apparent when looking at these photos, he is not a mere bystander passively recording a violent moment he has accidentally stumbled upon; instead, by placing himself on the scene, he has willingly made himself a participant in the tableaux captured on film. In the self portrait at the very end of the book (Plate 335), Weegee looks perfectly in place as he crouches behind his camera and stares almost defensively at the viewer from the back of a paddy wagon. It is as though he were acknowledging that he belongs there just as much as the felons the vehicle is otherwise used to transport.
There is very little text in this monograph, only a four page introductory essay by John Coplans and little more than a page of biographical detail. To a certain extent, that should be sufficient. A good photograph should always be able to stand on its own and require no explanation. Weegee's photos, though, were meant to accompany news stories that would provide a tabloid's reader with further information, no matter how sensational a form that reportage might take. The absence of any details regarding the circumstances in which these photos were shot undeniably makes them more compelling, but at the same time the viewer is only getting half the story. This omission can make the study of these images an unnecessarily frustrating experience.
The black & white photos themselves are well reproduced and each is placed by itself on a full oversized page. They are not, however, grouped chronologically but rather by subject, for example "Coney Island Beach." This makes it difficult to trace the development of Weegee's style over a period of time. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, although each photo is provided with a title (presumably supplied by Weegee himself), very few are dated.
In all, though, the book is highly recommended for providing a candid glimpse into the dark side of a big city in the mid-twentieth century. No matter how horrifying the contents of his photos, Weegee never blinked when taking them. He captured the ugliness of violent death and presented it in a straightforward manner with no trace of false sentimentality.
"...is not every spot of our cities the scene of a crime? every passerby a perpetrator? Does not the photographer - descendant of augurers and haruspices - uncover guilt in his pictures?"
The quote is noteworthy for questioning the role played by news photographers such as Weegee. After all, as becomes apparent when looking at these photos, he is not a mere bystander passively recording a violent moment he has accidentally stumbled upon; instead, by placing himself on the scene, he has willingly made himself a participant in the tableaux captured on film. In the self portrait at the very end of the book (Plate 335), Weegee looks perfectly in place as he crouches behind his camera and stares almost defensively at the viewer from the back of a paddy wagon. It is as though he were acknowledging that he belongs there just as much as the felons the vehicle is otherwise used to transport.
There is very little text in this monograph, only a four page introductory essay by John Coplans and little more than a page of biographical detail. To a certain extent, that should be sufficient. A good photograph should always be able to stand on its own and require no explanation. Weegee's photos, though, were meant to accompany news stories that would provide a tabloid's reader with further information, no matter how sensational a form that reportage might take. The absence of any details regarding the circumstances in which these photos were shot undeniably makes them more compelling, but at the same time the viewer is only getting half the story. This omission can make the study of these images an unnecessarily frustrating experience.
The black & white photos themselves are well reproduced and each is placed by itself on a full oversized page. They are not, however, grouped chronologically but rather by subject, for example "Coney Island Beach." This makes it difficult to trace the development of Weegee's style over a period of time. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that, although each photo is provided with a title (presumably supplied by Weegee himself), very few are dated.
In all, though, the book is highly recommended for providing a candid glimpse into the dark side of a big city in the mid-twentieth century. No matter how horrifying the contents of his photos, Weegee never blinked when taking them. He captured the ugliness of violent death and presented it in a straightforward manner with no trace of false sentimentality.
August 6, 2007
Three words: real life noir.
February 16, 2020
The less sensational photos in this collection are some of my favorites.
October 15, 2025
I LOVE WEEGEE. weegee i love you
June 25, 2010
I go to a lot of museums and i usually walk past the photography section giving the pieces a quick glance just to make sure i'm not walking past something by Weegee. This is hands down my favorite photographer. The Tom Waits of Photography, Weegee!
February 15, 2009
Gritty post-war urban noir meets Diane Arbus. I like the Circus pics and the infrared Theater shots most of all.
April 6, 2011
Excellent Images
January 6, 2013
Captivating and unsettling, brilliant in simplicity, the work of Weegee the Famous is like no other, bringing to light the unseen sights of New York in an era of violence.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews