Weegee arthur fellig biography of albert einstein

Weegee, born Usher Fellig on June 12, 1899, in the town of Lemburg (now in Ukraine), first worked as a photographer at age fourteen, three years after his family immigrated to the United States, where his first name was changed to the more American-sounding Arthur.

He authored a number of publications following Naked City, including Weegee's People (1946), Naked Hollywood (1953) and Weegee by Weegee, An Autobiography (1961), all of which, rather than being taken entirely literally, need to be read as part of Weegee's lively attempt to create and re-create his own self-image.

The dramatic close-ups, brightly-lit shots of spectators, cropping variants and tonal contrasts of Weegee's early work derive from his extraordinary flair for telling a story with directness and immediacy over and above the general stylistic conventions demanded by the dictates of newspaper production.

He got the nickname Weegee from the phonetic spelling of Ouija: his uncanny ability to find a story and to arrive at the scene of a crime before any other reporter was likened to the miraculous powers of a Ouija board. In contrast to most other news photographers, he consistently and intentionally blurred the dividing line between being a participant in the action and spectator to it.

Weegee's distortions ranged from rather Daumier-like, reportorial caricatures to kaleidoscopic pinwheels with subjects as varied as helicopters and London street minstrels.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Weegee experimented with panoramic photographs, photo distortions and photography through prisms. It was followed in 2002 by Weegee's Trick Photography, a show of distorted or otherwise caricatured images, and four years later by Unknown Weegee, a survey that emphasized his less violent, post-tabloid photographs.

In 2009, the Kunsthalle Vienna held an exhibition called Elevator to the Gallows.

Around 1923, he joined Acme Newspictures (which later became United Press International Photos) as a darkroom technician, occasionally filling in as a news photographer. Although he had some interest in exploiting the technical aspects of his medium throughout his career, his most involved technical experimentation came in the early- to mid-fifties when he began devoting himself almost full time to producing optical distortions.

It was based on a gritty 1948 story written by Malvin Wald about the investigation into a model's murder in New York. His use of visual puns and his wise-cracking captions for many of his images evidence his intrusion into his subject matter, an arch commingling of his life and his art. Advertising and editorial assignments for magazines followed, including Life and beginning in 1945, Vogue.

Naked City (1945) was his first book of photographs.

Weegee's career spanned four decades and both coasts as well as Europe, although he is most celebrated for his extraordinary photographs of New York and New York characters.

A New York character himself who achieved an albeit limited celebrity status, Weegee was largely (despite any disclaimers) the inspiration for the 1992 film The Public Eye, starring Joe Pesci.

Arthur Fellig

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also known asWeegee, Arthur (Usher) Fellig

Photographer

Weegee was the pseudonym of Arthur (Usher) Fellig a photographer and photojournalist, known for his stark black and white street photography. How to photograph a corpse, based on relevant photographs from Weegee's portfolio, including many vintage prints.

And naturally, I picked a story that meant something."

Personality

The origin of Fellig's pseudonym is uncertain. Weegee worked in Manhattan, New York City's Lower East Side, as a press photographer during the 1930s and ‘40s, and he developed his signature style by following the city's emergency services and documenting their activity.

Later, during his employment with Acme Newspictures, his skill and ingenuity in developing prints on the run (e.g., in a subway car) earned him the name "Mr.

As a bequest, Wilma Wilcox donated the entire Weegee archive – 16,000 photographs and 7,000 negatives – to the International Center of Photography in New York. He was an uncredited special effects consultant and credited still photographer for Stanley Kubrick's 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.