Synopsis
Offering a new perspective on Weegee's oeuvre, Weegee: Society of the Spectacle presents the photographer's iconic images beside lesser-known works.
There's a mystery to Weegee. The American photographer's career seems to be split in two. On one side, his sensational photography printed in North American tabloids: corpses of gangsters lying in pools of their own blood; bodies trapped in battered vehicles; kingpins looking sinister behind the bars of prison wagons; dilapidated slums consumed by fire; and other harrowing evidence of the lives of the underprivileged in New York from 1935 to 1945. On the other, the festive photographs―glamorous parties, performances by entertainers, jubilant crowds, openings, and premieres―not to mention a vast array of portraits of public figures that Weegee delighted in distorting using a rich palette of tricks between 1948 and 1951, a practice he pursued until the end of his life.
How can these diametrically opposed bodies of work coexist? Critics have enjoyed highlighting the opposition between the two periods, praising the former and disparaging the latter. Weegee: Society of the Spectacle seeks to reconcile the two sides of Weegee by showing that, despite formal differences, the photographer's approach is critically coherent.
In the first part of his career, which coincided with the rise of the tabloid press, Weegee was an active participant in transforming news into spectacle. To show this, he often included spectators or other photographers in the foreground of his images. In the second half of his career, Weegee mocked another sort of entranced crowd: the Hollywood spectacular with its ephemeral glory, adoring crowds, and social scenes. Some years before the Situationist International, his photography presented an incisive critique of the Society of the Spectacle.
130 black-and-white illustrations"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Authors
Clément Chéroux is director of the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris. He previously held senior curatorial positions in photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
Isabelle Bonnet is an independent curator, currently completing a thesis in history/visual culture devoted to the crime scene in contemporary photography.
David Campany is a curator, writer, educator, and the creative director of the International Center of Photography in New York City. His many books include Anastasia Samoylova: Adaptation, Louis Stettner, and Weegee: Society of the Spectacle, among others.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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Hardback. Condition: New. 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. Seller Inventory # LU-9780500029121
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Hardcover. Condition: new. Hardcover. 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. Offering a new perspective on Weegee's oeuvre, Weegee: Society of the Spectacle presents the photographer's iconic images beside lesser-known works. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780500029121
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Hardback. Condition: New. 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. Seller Inventory # LU-9780500029121
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