Weegee, a prominent 20th-century photojournalist, brilliantly captured scenes of tragedy such as fires and crime. His manual, "Weegee's Secrets of Shooting with Photoflash," stresses the urgency and marketability of news imagery. Born Arthur Fellig in Ukraine, he adopted the Weegee persona in New York City, notorious for his rapid acquisition of sensational photographs. A current retrospective at the International Center of Photography argues that his work reflects Guy Debord's concept of 'the society of the spectacle,' highlighting the enduring significance of images that are initially ephemeral.
A news picture is like any other commodity. . . . It can always be sold if it's good. It is also a perishable commodity . . . so-act fast!
Weegee's most successful photographs captured events like fires, car crashes, crime scenes, and their aftermath; the value of the pictures relied on their immediacy and sensationalism.
The importance of Weegee's images lies in his instinctual grasp of what the French Marxist philosopher Guy Debord called 'the society of the spectacle'.
The show's retrospective on Weegee's work highlights how the glinting, flash-lit air of his images gives them lasting significance.
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