The Daniel Blau Gallery presents both well-known pictures and an exciting array of recent discoveries. Weegee’s success is oftentimes attributed to velocity in which he responded to current events. Though his career began as a dark-room assistant for Acme Newspictures in 1924, Weegee rapidly began working behind the camera as a photojournalist. After installing his very own dark-room in the boot of his car, he was able to keep ahead of the game for the press deadlines and achieved a great proximity with his subjects. His infamous use of a flashgun created what he termed to be “Rembrandt lighting” – a highly contrasted chiaroscuro effect which simultaneously heightened and accentuated visual details, rendering crime scenes less gruesomely whilst maintaining photojournalistic standards for print. Weegee’s unique vision, often showing nocturnal scenes, yet his varied themes have inspired generations of photographers in their thematising the other, the celebrated and the dead. Weegee’s camera often pointed towards the audience as opposed to the event itself. His pictures thus implicate and foreground the sensationalist and voyeuristic elements inherent in photography. This auspicious solo exhibition will debut these prints from the 1930s and 1940s to the public.
FAIR
Paris Photo 2015
From 12 to 15 November, 2015
Grand Palais
Avenue Winston Churchill
75008 Paris
France
