April 28, 1943
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
Ascher Fellig was born in what is now Ukraine in 1899 and moved with his family to New York in 1909, where he changed his name to Arthur.
He worked as a photographer’s assistant and darkroom technician for several years before striking out on his own as a freelancer on the city streets, working out of a tiny apartment near police headquarters in lower Manhattan.
With his seemingly supernatural ability to show up at accidents and crime scenes before anyone else, he was soon known by another name: Weegee.
(Having a police radio in his car probably helped.)
c. 1946
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
Armed with his Speed Graphic, flash, and cigar, Weegee became a darling of both the photojournalism and fine art worlds, his lurid images capturing everything from the suits and gowns of the opera to the boozy booths of Sammy’s Bowery Follies with precision, humor, and pathos.
In 2012, a forgotten trove of Weegee images was found in a Midwest storage facility. Those photos have been collected in a new book, Extra! Weegee, edited by Daniel Blau.
Arranged thematically into chapters such as Extra! Crash and Extra! Crowds, the book contains 359 photos from 1929 to 1946.
Many of the images brim with his signature brutal irony — in one, a flipped car lies next to a sign begging SLOW DOWN, and in another, a crash victim’s body is sprawled beneath a marquee advertising “JOY OF LIVING.”
Jan. 1, 1940
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
March 29, 1942
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
Oct. 27, 1941
Image: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
c. 1939
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
1940
Image: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
c. 1939
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
1943
Image: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
1945
Image: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
July 27, 1945
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
April 29, 1941
Image: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
June 14, 1945
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
Sept. 8, 1943
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
Dec. 15, 1939
Image: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
Aug. 14, 1945
Image: Weegee(Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images
April 16, 1942
Image: Weegee/International Center of Photography, Courtesy: Daniel Blau, Munich
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