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| My expanding library of Weegee, stacked by year of publication |
Weegee, a man of two halves, as revealed in these pages. Ukrainian-born, in 1899, Usher Felig came to America when he was eleven and worked in various jobs until 1935, when he started as a freelance street photographer and in 1937 created his unique name. His speciality was taking crime, fire, accident and street-scene photos for New York's tabloids, easily achieved as he listened to police radio messages and arrived on the scene before any other snappers.
The book has an excellent selection of his New York photos, though they have all appeared in other books about him, especially in his 1945 book 'Naked City.' The net is awash with various (poor) editions issued over the years. Italian publisher Damiani issued a first-class facsimile in 2019 (ISBN 978 8862086950).
I was rather disappointed with this book, though it has 130 photos and four worthwhile essays. About half the book is Weegee's tacky photo-facial caricatures of celebrities and politicians. On page 161 there's a reproduction of a spread from an April 1962, Mechanix Illustrated magazine where he explains how to take your own facial distortions. I think Miles Barth's 'Weegee's world' (ISBN 0821226495) with 262 pages of photos and essays, is a good introduction to this interesting photographer.
US
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