Weegee the Famous
Weegee the Famous
«Weegee the Famous»: this is the way in which he signed his photographs at the time of his splendor, which reached its climax when The Naked City appeared, right after World War II. The 220 photographs exhibited at the musée Maillol, from the Berinson collection, could all be qualified as such since they are all «vintage», i.e. prints made during the life of Weegee, alias Arthur Fellig. Born in 1899 in Austria-Hungary, died in 1968 in New York, where he knew fame, he is the perfect illustration of the self-made man, going from the small closets of the working class districts in the Lower East Side to rubbing elbows with celebritis – actors, musicians or… murderers.
Before his portraits of stars, Weegee had indeed specialized in the violent side of New York, the crimes, of the gangsters of the lower strata he had befriended during his youth. He is a master in lighting (the overtly present flash) and reframing (to enhance a significant detail), always at the right place at the right moment. Weegee is one of the emblematic photographers of modern photostories.
Musee Maillol
59-61, rue de Grenelle - Paris