WEEGEE show at MOCA Grand

I blogged about this show a few months back when it was announced.  I finally went to see it this weekend and it is GREAT!   First of all I had no idea how famous Weegee ( Arthur Fellig was his real name – he earned his nickname as he had a habit of arriving at scenes only minutes after crimes, fires or other emergencies were reported to authorities )  was in his own time and what the success of his books Naked City and Naked Hollywood had at the time of publication. This is the first show ever dedicated to all the work he created while living in California.  He moved to Los Angeles in 1947 and in addition to being a photographer also worked as an actor and as consultant on films.  The exhibition covers all of that as well as some of the films he made. The show is also interesting because you can see how many photographers he influenced and what an original he was as a photographer and as a person. It also gives us a fascinating look into what Los Angeles in the 50’s and 60’s. There are many of the well known parody distortions of many of Hollywood’s most famous actors.  I was also interested to see that a lot of the prints in the show came from the Matthew Marks Gallery in NY – they have just opened a new gallery here in Los Angeles which I will be visiting soon.



02/13/2012 | Posted by Eye Forward

Categories: Fashion

Tags: http://www.matthewmarks.com/exhibitions/2000-06-03_weegee/, http://www.moca.org/museum/exhibitiondetail.php?id=450