Weegee's Hats in pool room, Mulberry Street, New York, circa 1943. Copyright Weegee/ICP
Opening today at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York is “Weegee: Murder Is My Business.”
The famous photographer was born Usher Fellig in 1899 in what is now the Ukraine; his family moved to New York in 1909. He later acquired the nickname Weegee from the Ouija board game because of his knack for arriving at crime scenes just minutes after the crimes were reported.
Says the ICP: Between 1935 and 1946, Weegee was one of the most relentlessly inventive figures in American photography. His graphically dramatic and often lurid photographs of New York crimes and news events set the standard for what has become known as tabloid journalism.
Weegee also wrote extensively (including his autobiographical “Naked City,” published in 1945) and organized his own exhibitions. He died in 1968. This show includes environmental recreations of Weegee’s apartment and exhibitions. It runs through Sept. 2.
And running through Feb. 27 at MOCA is “Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles.” More than 200 works from ICP’s Weegee archive are on display.
This Sunday, Jan. 22, at 3 p.m., Richard Meyer, guest curator of “Naked Hollywood,” Brian Wallis, chief curator at the ICP, and art historian Colin Westerbeck will discuss Weegee’s work, tabloid photography, celebrity culture and the lure of the lowbrow.
MOCA is at 250 S. Grand Ave. in Los Angeles.
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