Weegee

Waiting for food at an overturned truck, c. 1940

Weegee Biography Weegee (Arthur Fellig, 1899–1968) was an Austrian-born American photographer who became famous for his raw, often sensational photographs of New York City at night during the 1930s and 1940s. He worked as a freelance press photographer, covering murders, fires, accidents, arrests, and other breaking news, but he also photographed nightlife, celebrities, children, theatergoers, and ordinary New Yorkers. He called himself 'Weegee the Famous,' a name derived from the Ouija board, and cultivated the mythology that he possessed an almost supernatural intuition about where news would break. The real explanation was more practical: Weegee lived across the street from Manhattan Police Headquarters and kept a police radio, which let him hear about incidents almost immediately. He would race to the scene, often arriving before the other photographers. After moving to Los Angeles in 1947, Weegee became increasingly interested in distortion, celebrity, Hollywood, and experimental photography, using special lenses and other camera tricks to create grotesque or comic distortions of politicians and celebrities.