Weegee's World

by Alain Bergala, Ellen Handy

This major retrospective features the work of this pioneer of tabloid photography and showcases the best of Weegee's jolting work from the 1930s to the 1960s. It captures bygone New York at its most raucous, dangerous, and outrageous. Grisly murders, tragic accidents, gawking crowds, along with intimate human-interest and high-society images, are all captured by Weegee's flash. Interpretive essays, an annotated chronology, bibliography, filmography, and a list of exhibitions complete this comprehensive volume.

Genres: Photography, Art

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2000

About the author

Alain Bergala, born 8 August 1943 in Brignoles, is a French film critic, essayist, screenwriter and director. Former writer for Cahiers du cinéma, he is best known as a specialist in the works of Jean-Luc Godard.

Reviews

[Sheena · Rating 5 out of 5]

no one can honestly say they don't want to see those grisly, gritty-real photos of hell's kitchen murders, can they? satisfies the voyeur in all of us.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff, definitely worth knowing if you want to know your photo history.

[Elizabeth Sims · Rating 5 out of 5]

The guy was a peasant genius, and I don't mean that at all pejoratively. He was a journalist and artist truly of the people. This book shows you all about it.

[Nish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Weegee was a black and white street photographer who had an eerie prescience for crime scenes. These powerful pictures look at murder, homosexuality, fires, fights, class disparity, lovers in movie theatres, Coney Island, the lower east side, the Jewish community, Little Italy, bars and nightclubs. An amazing look at NYC in the 40s.

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revolutionary. Trailblazer. Amazing.

[Lisa Mcbroom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wegee was an inspiration of Diane Arbus. He photographed mainly violent scenes( accidents and the morgue.