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A01=Clément Chéroux
A01=Cynthia Young
A01=David Campany
A01=Isabelle Bonnet
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
Author_Clément Chéroux
Author_Cynthia Young
Author_David Campany
Author_Isabelle Bonnet
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Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=AJB
COP=United Kingdom
Delivery_Pre-order
Language_English
PA=Not yet available
Price_€20 to €50
PS=Forthcoming
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Weegee: The Society of the Spectacle

Offering a new perspective on Weegees oeuvre, The Society of the Spectacle presents the photographers iconic images beside lesser-known works.

Theres a mystery to Weegee. The American photographers career seems to be split in two. One side includes his sensational photography printed in North American tabloids: corpses of gangsters lying in pools of their own blood, bodies trapped in battered vehicles, kingpins looking sinister behind the bars of prison wagons, dilapidated slums consumed by fire, and other harrowing onevidence of the lives of the underprivileged in New York from 1935 to 1945. Then come the festive photographs glamorous parties, performances by entertainers, jubilant crowds, openings and premieres to which we must add a vast array of portraits of public figures that Weegee delighted in distorting using a rich palette of tricks between 1948 and 1951, a practice he pursued until the end of his life.

How can these diametrically opposed bodies of work coexist? Critics have enjoyed highlighting the opposition between the two periods, praising the former and disparaging the latter. The Society of the Spectacle seeks to reconcile the two parts of Weegee by showing that, beyond formal differences, the photographers approach is critically coherent.

In the first part of his career, which coincided with the rise of the tabloid press, Weegee was an active participant in transforming news into spectacle. To show this, he often included spectators, or other photographers, in the foreground of his images. In the second half of his career, Weegee mocked the Hollywood spectacular: its ephemeral glory, adoring crowds and social scenes. Some years before the Situationist International, his photography presented an incisive critique of the Society of the Spectacle. See more
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Original price €56.99
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A01=Clément ChérouxA01=Cynthia YoungA01=David CampanyA01=Isabelle BonnetAge Group_UncategorizedAuthor_Clément ChérouxAuthor_Cynthia YoungAuthor_David CampanyAuthor_Isabelle Bonnetautomatic-updateCategory1=Non-FictionCategory=AJBCOP=United KingdomDelivery_Pre-orderLanguage_EnglishPA=Not yet availablePrice_€20 to €50PS=Forthcomingsoftlaunch

Will deliver when available. Publication date 09 Jan 2025

Product Details
  • Dimensions: 206 x 265mm
  • Publication Date: 09 Jan 2025
  • Publisher: Thames & Hudson Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: United Kingdom
  • Language: English
  • ISBN13: 9780500029121

About Clément ChérouxCynthia YoungDavid CampanyIsabelle Bonnet

Clément Chéroux is a French photography historian and curator. He was recently named director of the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris; he was previously chief curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

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