Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous


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Description

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.

Author: Christopher Bonanos
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 06/11/2019
Pages: 400
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.05lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.70w x 1.20d
ISBN13: 9781250229878
ISBN10: 1250229871
BISAC Categories:
- Biography & Autobiography | Artists, Architects, Photographers
- Art | Popular Culture
- Photography | Individual Photographers | General

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.