(Screenshot of Swann Auction Galleries website)
Swann, “Photographs: Art and Visual Culture,” February 21, 2019, sale 2499, lots 101, 102, 170.
1. Empire State Building (distortion); sold for $3,750. (Beautiful photo; of course it’s a photo of a photo.)
2. Four photos; sold for $6,000. (Nice prints; of course the photos were made in 1943-44.)
3. Pair of distortions; sold for $3,900. (Nice prints; photos of photos?)
Weegee, pp. 272-273, (Into the Photobooth, chapter)
Andy Warhol “Giant” Sized, (Phaidon)
PM, February 24, 1941, p. 20
“Weegee Meets Interesting People At a 6 a.m. Sunday Fire”
“Cruising around Times Square at 6 a.m. Sunday with the police radio on in my car…”
PM, February 25, 1941, pp. 12-13 (photos by Max Coplan)
“Mrs. Gargantua the Great… A Picture Profile“
The New York Times, February 24, 1896
“How to House the Poor”
“Completed Plans of the Conference to be Held Next Week”
“Building Company May Be Formed”
“Meetings to be Held Afternoons and Evenings – Morning Tours of Inspection.”
“The question of how best to house the poor in the crowded districts of great cities will be discussed in an interesting series of meetings to be held in this city…”
“Will Improved Housing Pay?”- “Moral Aspects of the Question” – “Next Steps Forward,”…
“The meetings will be held in the large audience hall of the United Charities Building, 105 East Twenty-second Street…”
fotograhiska screenshot
[The United Charities Building, 105 East Twenty-second Street, also known as 287 Park Avenue South, built in 1892 or 1893 or 1894, sold for $128 million several years ago, soon, sometime in 2019, will be a “destination for photography.” (“A haven of innovation and free expression.”… “Fotografiska New York will be anything but an ordinary museum, and we look forward to sharing our world-class photography, award-winning culinary experience, innovative academy, and cultural event programming…”… “The Museum of Photography, 281 Park Avenue South, New York.”… fotograhiska.)]
“The party will visit the following places Wednesday morning:
6:30 – Department of Street Cleaning… Col. George Waring” [Waring died eight months later of yellow fever. Waring was a “designer and advocate of sewer systems that keep domestic sewage separate from storm runoff.” wikipedia]
“10 – People’s Bath, 9 Centre Market Place…” [While researching Centre Market Place we stumbled upon this fascinating article.]
“10:30 – Police Headquarters, 300 Mulberry Street, Theodore Roosevelt, President” [Teddy was president of the US from 1901-1909… Police headquarters at 240 Centre St. opened in 1909.]
“12:15 – Tee-To-Tum Club, 346 East Twenty-third Street…”
The New York Times, February 24, 1896
The New York Times, March 11, 1894
A perennial question as posed by The NY Times and addressed by the “Improved Housing Conference” 123 years ago today: “How to House the Poor.”
(images from auction site)
Sold for $599.99 (plus $8.00 for shipping)
in December 2018.
PM press photo from Culver… “PM-FILE” means it wasn’t published…
“F.H. La Guardia at fire 1/8/42
Pay if used (arrow to Weegee stamp)
before he… his check” written on verso
Extra! Weegee, pp. 202-203
Photo is in the extraordinary Extra! Weegee, with the caption: “Mayor Nipped By Jack Frost.” “…5-alarm fire at the municipally owned pier 83 on the Hudson River… his right cheek was frost bitten…”
Whitney Museum, 2019
[Arshile Gorky (1902-1948), The Artist and His Mother, 1926-c. 1936.] – from whitney.org
Weegee in the wild…
screenshot, whitney.org
(Small image file – 300 pixels wide, can’t see the back of the print, good to know that it’s a posthumous print, this may not be accurate: “for PM, a tabloid-style newspaper for which he did occasional freelance work.” – “occasional”?)
screenshot, whitney.org
PM, February 21, 1941, p. 21
New York Times, February 21, 1941
(Esposito Brothers)
(Images copied from auction website)
Copied from auction website: “Weegee, ‘Arrested For Bribing Basket Ball Players’, 1942, Original Press Print”
Sold for $60.00
(Photo of HR and HS was published in PM on January 31, 1945.)
“Original” is a funny word to describe a press print…
Two definitions of the word original, copied from google:
Original:
1. present or existing from the beginning; first or earliest.
2. created directly and personally by a particular artist; not a copy or imitation.
(This is an original blog post.)
The New York Sun, February 19, 1942
“Photo League Lists Two New Courses
The Photo League, 31 East 21st street has announced two new courses… Synchro-Flash will be taught by Weegee, Gjon Mili and Martin Harris…”
PM, December 26, 1940, p15
Weegee Covers Christmas in New York… In Pictures and Words…
By Weegee
Early Christmas Eve I received a phone call from Wesley Price, one of PM’s picture editors. Price told me he wanted a good holiday picture, something with plenty of OOMPH. Lots of Christmas spirit in it. in other words a masterpiece. Jokingly I replied you just couldn’t order a picture like that, like you would a box of cigars. It had to happen. However, I asked him if he had any suggestions. He suggested that I get the picture in for the first edition.
I left police headquarters in my car at 2:30 Christmas morning. I turned the two radios on. One the regular broadcast receiver, to get some holiday music to put me in the mood; and the other radio, a police short wave receiver to get the police signals so I would know what was going on.
The first police call I picked up was for West and Bank Sts. When I got there I found a car with a Jersey license, turned on its side, with a cop on top of it. Nobody seemed to be hurt. Soon a towing wagon arrived to take the car away. I made a shot of it and was on my way.
Then I picked up six fire alarm signals. They were all false. I didn’t think Santa did that.
Then I stopped at the All Night Mission at No. 8 Bowery. [Not the still extant Bowery Mission.] Every night in the year about 100 hopelessly beaten and homeless men sit on benches and sleep as best they can.
Except for a Christmas tree in front, everything was the same. The same despair and hopelessness. I tiptoed in at 4 in the morning, being careful not to disturb anyone. Everyone was asleep. The place was as usual playing to “Sitting up” only. The same electric sign was lit with the illuminated big letters, JESUS SEES, the only source of light in the place. I wondered if He approved…
On the way out, along a big stove near the door, I noticed a pair of stockings, turned inside out, hung to dry.
Next I picked up a police alarm for 102nd St. and Lexington Ave. When I got there I found a man had been stabbed to death and was lying on the corner. From the St. John’s Episcopal Church, on the opposite corner, came the sound of organ music and the singing of the Christmas worshipers. I made a shot of the scene and started back to police headquarters.
When I arrived at my home, in back of Police Headquarters, I found a package wrapped in fancy paper outside my door. It was a present from my Chinese laundry man, Willie Chu, of 95 Elizabeth St. It contained a pound of tea and a half pound of lichee nuts. I had been looking for the Christmas spirit all night long. And had found it, on my doorstep. Lichee NUTS to you, Santa Claus…
Weegee’s Christmas day journey (on a Google Map), might look like this.
A soon-to-be classic New York City Christmas story…
PM, December 26, 1940, p15
The New York Times, October 18, 1948
WEEGEEWEEGEEWEEGEE 