Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous - Hardcover

Bonanos, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1627793062 ISBN 13: 9781627793063

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co., 2018

Synopsis

The first comprehensive biography of Weegee―photographer, “psychic,” ultimate New Yorker―from Christopher Bonanos, author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid.

Arthur Fellig’s ability to arrive at a crime scene just as the cops did was so uncanny that he renamed himself “Weegee,” claiming that he functioned as a human Ouija board. Weegee documented better than any other photographer the crime, grit, and complex humanity of midcentury New York City. In Flash, we get a portrait not only of the man (both flawed and deeply talented, with generous appetites for publicity, women, and hot pastrami) but also of the fascinating time and place that he occupied.

From self-taught immigrant kid to newshound to art-world darling to latter-day caricature―moving from the dangerous streets of New York City to the celebrity culture of Los Angeles and then to Europe for a quixotic late phase of experimental photography and filmmaking―Weegee lived a life just as worthy of documentation as the scenes he captured. With Flash, we have an unprecedented and ultimately moving view of the man now regarded as an innovator and a pioneer, an artist as well as a newsman, whose photographs are among most powerful images of urban existence ever made.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig was perhaps the perfect vehicle for defining and delivering the fear and wonder of the modern city to our American spirit. Journalist, artist, and huckster, Weegee stole shards of a New York through a camera lens, then reassembled the great city in a mosaic that somehow--despite a fair degree of fraud--still defines urbanity itself for us. We know the photographs, and now, with this biography from Christopher Bonanos, we can finally know something of the legendary, improbable, and much-caricatured man." ―David Simon, creator of HBO's The Wire and The Deuce


"Flash is a crackling portrait of a man and his era--as immediate and as alive as Weegee's pictures themselves. Chris Bonanos vivifies not only his subject, but the long lost New York that he lived in, and that made him." ―Daniel Okrent, New York Times bestselling author of Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition


"Weegee, in addition to being one of the greatest photographers ever, was a cartoon character and something of a living myth. This has confused perception for the better part of eighty years. Christopher Bonanos's nuanced and sympathetic account succeeds in merging those three aspects--not only was a lot of the bluster for real, but even the pure baloney was hard-won and contextually grounded. His is a sweet and melancholy book and a doorway into a mostly misremembered past."
―Luc Sante, author of Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York

"There's something about a car crash that makes people slow down as they pass by. The same is true of Weegee's photos. Maybe I wouldn't have liked to have known him, but it would've been interesting to have met him. And this fascinating biography by Christopher Bonanos brings to life the gritty old New York City where he lived and worked. He was a legendary character whose work inspired young hopefuls like myself." ―Cindy Sherman, artist

About the Author

Christopher Bonanos is city editor at New York magazine, where he covers arts and culture and urban affairs. He is the author of Instant: The Story of Polaroid. He lives in New York City with his wife and their son.

About this edition

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1627793062
• ISBN 13: 9781627793063
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400