Weegee

This definitive monograph on the enigmatic and eccentric photographer Weegee is a collector's item in itself. Weegee (1899-1968), known for his harrowing and poignant photographs of crime scenes in 1930s and 40s New York, is considered to be the archetypal tabloid photographer of the twentieth century. Preferring to photograph under the cover of night, Weegee was known for his aggressive use of flash and his photographic eye was unstoppable: drawn to the grotesque, the illicit and the illegal. Named after the 'Ouija' board for his uncanny ability to arrive at the crime scene before the police, Weegee recorded the dark side of New York's streets for years, becoming a prolific photographer. No sordid crime seemed to escape his flash and no crime was too gruesome to capture on camera for the papers the next day. Weegee's nuanced understanding of people's simultaneous repulsion and attraction to vivid photographs of crimes of passion, murder and brutal accidents reveals him to have been far ahead of his time. Even today his photographs tirelessly retain the power to stun and to seduce: the originality of the images has elevated them in importance far beyond their use in the newspapers.