Exhibitions! Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography at the Tate Modern

When in London…
Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography
at Tate Modern, London SE1, 22 May to 31 Aug. 2008.
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/streetandstudio/default.shtm

Over 350 photos, that examine the history of portraiture, on the streets and in the studio…
including at least one by Weegee, Their First Murder, Oct. 9, 1941.

Street & Studio: An Urban History of Photography organised in collaboration with Museum Folkwang, Essen,Germany. The exhibition is curated by Ute Eskildsen and Bettina Kaufmann, Assistant Curator, Tate Modern. The exhibition will travel to Museum Folkwang, Germany (11 October – 11 January 2009).

An excerpt from the Independent:
“We’re also shown street scenes which are far from “innocent” snaps of unsuspecting humanity going about its ordinary business. In Weegee’s “Their First Murder, 9 October 1941″, a group of 13 excitable New Yorkers jostle for a good look at a homicide scene; but some of them are aware of Weegee’s camera and are wondering how their faces will look in the newspapers. In a second, the point of the occasion has become, not the dead man, but their chaotic response to him.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art-and-architecture/features/penthouse-amp-pavement-images-from-the-inner-cities-829094.html

An excerpt from the Telegraph;
“With the advent of portable cameras, photographers were drawn to moments of action on the streets. In Weegee’s Their First Murder, 1941, the photographer turns the camera on the spectators, wild-eyed with excitement as they try to catch a glimpse of the gruesome scene off camera.
Weegee (named after the Ouija board for his almost supernatural ability to be first at the scene of a crime) shows us the voyeuristic public to whom his work caters.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/05/17/baphoto117.xml