Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous

BONANOS, Christopher

ISBN 10: 1627793062 / ISBN 13: 9781627793063

Published by Henry Holt, New York, 2018

About this Item

First edition. 379pp. Tiny tear at the foot of the spine, near fine in a fine dust jacket. National Book Critics Circle Award Winner for 2018 in Biography with promotional material from the awards event laid in. Signed by the author on the title page.

Seller Inventory # 626361

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous
• Publisher: Henry Holt, New York
• Publication Date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1627793062
• ISBN 13: 9781627793063
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Signed: Signed
• Seller catalogs:
  • Photography

About this title

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 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.