
Weegee
Society of the Spectacle
Thames & Hudson Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 9. January 2025
Book
Hardback
208 pages
978-0-500-02912-1 (ISBN)
Description
Offering a new perspective on Weegee's oeuvre, Society of the Spectacle presents the photographer's iconic images alongside lesser-known works.
Weegee's macabre tabloid photographs of murdered gangsters, bodies trapped in crashed cars, slums consumed by fire, and other poignant records of New York's nocturnal low life in the 1930s and 40s are the stuff of legend. Lesser-known, however, is the work he created in his later years, when he satirized Hollywood, mocking its fleeting glory, jubilant crowds, and social scenes, and created celebrity portraits that he delighted in distorting using a palette of technical tricks. And herein lies the paradox of Weegee: how can two such wildly different bodies of work co-exist?
Offering the first evaluation of the famed photographer's career in its entirety, this book reconciles the two sides of Weegee by showing how the 'spectacle' was the unifying theme of his work. Over 130 images, some iconic, some more rarely seen, are accompanied by essays that explore the consistent themes throughout Weegee's career, his documentary and photojournalism work, and his last great series taken on the set of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove.
Weegee's macabre tabloid photographs of murdered gangsters, bodies trapped in crashed cars, slums consumed by fire, and other poignant records of New York's nocturnal low life in the 1930s and 40s are the stuff of legend. Lesser-known, however, is the work he created in his later years, when he satirized Hollywood, mocking its fleeting glory, jubilant crowds, and social scenes, and created celebrity portraits that he delighted in distorting using a palette of technical tricks. And herein lies the paradox of Weegee: how can two such wildly different bodies of work co-exist?
Offering the first evaluation of the famed photographer's career in its entirety, this book reconciles the two sides of Weegee by showing how the 'spectacle' was the unifying theme of his work. Over 130 images, some iconic, some more rarely seen, are accompanied by essays that explore the consistent themes throughout Weegee's career, his documentary and photojournalism work, and his last great series taken on the set of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
130 Illustrations, color
Dimensions
Height: 261 mm
Width: 203 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
1008 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-500-02912-1 (9780500029121)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Clement Cheroux is a French photography historian and curator. He was recently named director of the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris; he was previously chief curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.