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Weegee (American, 1899–1968)
LOT ID: 70723
Self Portrait Distortion, ie. circa 1950

Silver Print, gelatin silver print
6.5 х 4 in. cm.
Stamped, Weegee credit stamp on verso.
Lot description
Vintage print; paper size is 10 x 8 inches (25.4 x 20.3 cm).

As legend has it, Austrian photographer Arthur Fellig earned the nickname Weegee during his early career as a freelance press photographer in New York City. His apparent sixth sense for crime often led him to a scene well ahead of the police. Observers likened this sense, actually derived from tuning his radio to the police frequency, to the Ouija board, the popular fortune-telling game. Spelling it phonetically, Fellig took Weegee as his professional name.

With his subjects ranging from wild-eyed adolescent onlookers at a late night gangland slaying to glassy-eyed starlets at Hollywood movie premieres, Weegee could be considered one of the first ambulance chasers. He was as flamboyant as some of his subjects, creating his own mythology, reveling in his own notoriety as well as that of his subjects, and even stamping the backs of his pictures with “Credit Photo by Weegee the Famous.” His camera, typewriter, and even the equipment of a complete darkroom were stowed in the trunk of his car, allowing him to bring photographs and a finished story to his editors with uncanny speed. Entitled Self Portrait Distortion, this photograph shows the photographer at work typing in the trunk of his car. By distorting the car, Weegee challenges viewers to look at his photographs (as well as the world itself) in new and ambiguous ways.

Weegee's best known photographs are those documenting street life in New York City with a candid and unflinching vision. He participated in several museum exhibitions including a photography show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1943, and had a celebrated book of photographs, ‘Naked City’, published in 1945. Weegee’s works were featured at a 2006 exhibition ‘Unknown Weegee’ at the International Center of Photography.
Self Portrait Distortion by Weegee
  • Self Portrait Distortion by Weegee
  • Self Portrait Distortion by Weegee
  • Self Portrait Distortion by Weegee
  • Self Portrait Distortion by Weegee
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  • Weegee

    Salvador Dali (Surimpression)
    gelatin silver print
    (H 7.1, W 5.0) in.
    (18 x 12.8) cm.
    Sold for: US$1,196 €
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    Lot 00120

  • Weegee

    Salvador Dali (Distorsion)
    gelatin silver print
    (H 7.1, W 5.0) in.
    (18 x 12.8) cm.
    Sold for: US$1,596 €
    Friday, May 25, 2012
    Piasa
    Lot 00123

  • Weegee

    Strange-looking girls
    gelatin silver print
    (H 7.1, W 5.0) in.
    (18 x 12.8) cm.
    Sold for: US$957 €
    Friday, May 25, 2012
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    Lot 00130

  • Weegee

    Untitled (Distortion, women in a whirl)
    ferrotyped silver print
    (H 8.0, W 7.5) in.
    (20.3 x 19.1) cm.
    Sold for: US$4,200 €
    Wednesday, April 04, 2012
    Swann Galleries
    Lot 00317

  • Weegee

    Untitled
    gelatin silver print
    (H 8.2, W 7.2) in.
    (21.0 x 18.4) cm.
    Sold for: US$1,375 €
    Tuesday, February 07, 2012
    Heritage Auctions Texas
    Lot 86159

  • Weegee

    Gregory Peck
    gelatin silver print
    (H 10, W 8) in.
    (25.4 x 20.3) cm.
    Sold for: US$1,188 €
    Saturday, July 09, 2011
    Wright
    Lot 00539

  • Weegee

    Freak cat
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    (H 7.8, W 7.8) in.
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    Sold for: US$1,725 €
    Monday, April 11, 2011
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    Lot 45440

  • Weegee

    Untitled
    photograph
    (H 9, W 7) in.
    (22.9 x 17.8) cm.
    Sold for: US$2,000 €
    Sunday, March 06, 2011
    Los Angeles Modern Auctions
    Lot 00137

  • Weegee

    Distortion, woman under hair dryer (from the Citi services building)
    gelatin silver print
    (H 9.9, W 5.4) in.
    (25.1 x 13.7) cm.
    Sold for: US$1,625 €
    Friday, October 08, 2010
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    Lot 00033

  • Weegee

    The critic
    gelatin silver print
    (H 10.6, W 13.2) in.
    (26.9 x 33.5) cm.
    Sold for: US$11,186 €
    Friday, November 20, 2009
    Sotheby's Paris
    Lot 00161

  • Weegee

    Mother and child in Harlem
    gelatin silver print
    (H 13.3, W 10.6) in.
    (33.9 x 27) cm.
    Sold for: US$18,750 €
    Wednesday, October 17, 2007
    Christie's New York
    Lot 00022

  • Weegee

    Self portrait as a murder suspect
    gelatin silver print
    (H 7.6, W 9.4) in.
    (19.4 x 23.8) cm.
    Sold for: US$6,000 €
    Friday, September 07, 2007
    Christie's New York
    Lot 00398

  • Weegee

    Woman cab driver and Macy's clown
    ferrotyped gelatin silver print
    (H 10.5, W 13.2) in.
    (26.7 x 33.7) cm.
    Sold for: US$10,200 €
    Thursday, May 24, 2007
    Bonhams & Butterfields
    Lot 00458
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