Weegee's world

A landmark volume on the most celebrated news photographer of this century, Weegee's World features the work of this archetypal hard-bitten tabloid photographer, who was also a modern master of the art of photography. From the 1930s to the 1960s, Weegee's images of murder, mayhem, and New York's seamy underside set a new standard for immediacy and wit - and influenced a generation of imitators. Arthur Fellig, known as Weegee, made a place for himself among newspaper photographers with his feel for the spectacular as well as the story. Working mostly at night, answering the calls of the police and firemen of New York City, Weegee carried out an obsessional documentation of the murders, suicides, accidents, and fires of his city, fascinated by the fringes of society. With a Speed Graphic outfitted with an on-camera flash, he shot in a stark, punchy, in-your-face style, often capturing his subjects in a startling blast of light. His accomplished and well-proven technique lends a brutal objectivity to the scenes he recorded. Published to coincide with an exhibition at the International Center of Photography in New York, this monograph takes advantage of sources until now incomplete or unpublished to present more than 250 images, reproduced in duotone, chosen by Miles Barth, curator at the ICP, with the assistance of editor Gilles Mora.