Weegee: Naked City - Hardcover

4.27

491 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3869304383 ISBN 13: 9783869304380

Publisher: Steidl, 2015

When Naked City was published in 1945, it was an instant success, inspiring a Hollywood film and a cult following. Naked City is Weegee's unflinching look at his beloved New York City through photos by turns ironic, hilarious, seamy and brutal. Photographing the city at all hours and in all its guises, Weegee created a thrilling, lonely and candid portrait, as well as a style that was to inspire younger photographers (not least Diane Arbus). Steidl's facsimile of Naked City carefully recreates the original book, bringing to life an object that is in form and spirit as close as possible to the first edition, and of which Weegee would be proud.

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Review:

"If it bleeds, it leads" -- the cynical battle cry of today's tabloids -- might easily have been the motto of Arthur Fellig, the freelance photojournalist better known as Weegee, who cruised the streets of 1940s New York in the wee hours of the morning in search of the sensational. His pictures of children sleeping on fire escapes, blood-splattered corpses on sidewalks and amorous couples on the beach -- as seen in this reprint of his first book -- reveal that Weegee, unlike his latter day counterparts, had heart and soul. He also had a cockeyed sense of humor, as evidenced by his captions and camera tips.

From the Back Cover:

Weegee's First book, 'Naked City' (1953), was a runaway success and made him a celebrity who suddenly had assignments from Life and Vogue. He was among the first to fully realize the camera's unique power to capture split-second drama and exaggerated emotion. Regarded as some of the most powerful images of the 20th-century photography, Weegee's work now resides in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.

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