Naked City
by Weegee
List Price:
Our Price: $12.01
You Save: $5.49 (31%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.50 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: WeegeePhotographer: Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2002-12-17
ISBN: 0306812045
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Book Reviews of Naked City
Book Review: Big Apple's snapper
Summary: 3 Stars
Weegee knew what kind of photos the editors of the New York daily tabloids wanted, in-your-face gutsy black and whites to capture the reader's imagination over the breakfast table. He always delivered too. This reprint of his 1945 book captures the energy of the Big Apple and yet there are no shots of skyscrapers. Instead the (mostly) ordinary folk of the city are shown getting on with their lives and deaths.
Many of the photos are taken at night, a Weegee trademark. Inside buildings he used infrared film so he could shoot in near blackness and capture his subjects displaying emotions they would hide, had they known a camera was about. Out on the street he captured the latest human tragedy in stark close-up with a blinding flash of his Speed Graphic camera.
The contents of this book are an amazing selection of photos but I was very disappointed by the reproduction, so only three stars. As far as I can tell, the photos have been scanned from the 1945 book rather than from original prints. The paper is coarse which doesn't help the reproduction either. This looks not much better than a book of photocopies. Far better I think to go for Miles Barth's Weegee's World. Although it does not have every photo from 'Naked City', the 250 included are printed as duotones on glossy paper, I particularly like this book because it shows many photos as original un-cropped prints. For instance, in his famous photo, 'The Critic' the three bystanders to the left of the two socialites are usually cropped out but here you can see how great the original was. This book also has three excellent essays about Weegee and his influence on other photographers in the Forties.
Another choice might be Weegee's New York Photographs, 1935-1960 with 335 photos from 1935 to 1960 and like the Barth book it is large size and beautifully printed (the photos are duotones) on glossy paper and could possibly have all the photos in Naked City.
Summary of Naked City
For Naked City, his first collection, Weegee cruised the streets of 1940s New York in the wee hours in search of the sensational. Lewd, louche, licentious but always brimming with life (except when brimming with death), Weegee's photographs have endured decades of modern art criticism and are again enjoying a much-deserved cult revival.
"If it bleeds, it leads" -- the cynical battle cry of today's tabloids -- might easily have been the motto of Arthur Fellig, the freelance photojournalist better known as Weegee, who cruised the streets of 1940s New York in the wee hours of the morning in search of the sensational. His pictures of children sleeping on fire escapes, blood-splattered corpses on sidewalks and amorous couples on the beach -- as seen in this reprint of his first book -- reveal that Weegee, unlike his latter day counterparts, had heart and soul. He also had a cockeyed sense of humor, as evidenced by his captions and camera tips.
Artists, A-Z Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Artists, A-Z Books
Rembrandt: His Life, His Paintingsby Gary Schwartz
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1991-11-05; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $48.50
Life with Lowryby Tilly Marshall
Hutchinson; Published: 1981-02-16; Hardcover; Book
Andrew Wyeth: A Secret Lifeby Richard Meryman
Harper; Published: 1996-10-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.99
Price in other shops:
Georg Baselitz: Paintings 1964-67 [exhibition: May 1-31, 1985]by Georg Baselitz
Anthony d'Offay Gallery; Paperback; Book
Florence and Its Beauty: A Practical Guidebook to the Town and Its Monuments with 350 Illustrations and a Plan of the Principal Places of Interestby Sandra Orienti
G. Ramella - Florence, Italy; Published: 1956; Unknown Binding; Book
Lord of the Rings Sketchbookby Alan Lee
Harpercollins Pb; Published: 2008-09-01; Hardcover; Book
Picassoby Patrick O'Brian
Harvill; Published: 1994; Paperback; Book
The Art of Adventureby Galen Rowell
Collins Pub San Francisco; Published: 1989-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.92
Price in other shops:
Calder JewelryOther Distribution; Published: 2007-12-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $360.00
POPism: The Warhol Sixtiesby Andy Warhol, Pat Hackett
Mariner Books; Published: 2006-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.58
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Build My Gallows High (Film Ink)by Geoffrey Homes
Prion; Published: 2001-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $18.00
Double Indemnityby James M. Cain
Vintage; Published: 1989-05-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops:
The Americansby Robert Frank, Jack Kerouac
Steidl; Published: 2008-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $125.00
Wisconsin Death Tripby Michael Lesy
University of New Mexico Press; Published: 2000-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.99
Price in other shops:
Death Scenes: A Homicide Detective's Scrapbookby Sean Tejaratchi, Dunn Katherine
Feral House; Published: 2000-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.51
Price in other shops:
Weegee and Naked City (Defining Moments in American Photography)by Anthony W. Lee, Richard Meyer
University of California Press; Published: 2008-04-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.00
Price in other shops:
Weegee's New York: Photographs, 1935-1960Schirmer/Mosel Verlag Gmbh; Published: 2006-03-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $353.18
In Focus: Weegee: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museumby Judith Keller
J. Paul Getty Museum; Published: 2005-09-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.75
Price in other shops:
Weegee's Worldby Alain Bergala, Ellen Handy, Miles Barth
Bulfinch; Published: 2000-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $182.26
Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angelesby Richard Meyer, Int'l Center of Photography
Skira Rizzoli; Published: 2011-11-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $27.73
Price in other shops: