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WEEGEE (ARTHUR FELLIG), (American, b. Poland, 1899-1968), CROWD AT CONEY ISLAND, TEMPERATURE 89 D...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:7,000.00 - 10,000.00 USD
WEEGEE (ARTHUR FELLIG), (American, b. Poland, 1899-1968), CROWD AT CONEY ISLAND, TEMPERATURE 89 D...
WEEGEE (ARTHUR FELLIG)
(American, b. Poland, 1899-1968)
CROWD AT CONEY ISLAND, TEMPERATURE 89 DEGREES....THEY CAME EARLY, AND STAYED LATE, JULY 22, 1940
gelatin silver print mounted on board
image: 101/2 x 133/4 in. (26.7 x 34.9 cm)
mount: 113/16 x 14 ? in. (28.4 x 36.2 cm)
July 1940
ESTIMATE: $7,000-10,000
PROVENANCE
Argus, Ltd. NEW YORK
LITERATURE
Weegee, NAKED CITY, Cincinnati, Zebra Books, 1945, pp. 178-179 (illustrated as a double-page spread)
Weegee, WEEGEE BY WEEGEE: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, NEW YORK, Ziff-Davis, 1961, n.p. (illustrated between pages 128 & 129; titled "Sardines")
Louis Stettner, WEEGEE, NEW YORK, Alfred A. Knopf, 1977, pp. 52-53 (illustrated as a double page spread; titled "Coney Island, the crowd turned to look at Weegee standing on top of the lifeguard station, 1938-1939")
John Coplans, WEEGEE'S NEW YORK: 335 PHOTOGRAPHS, 1935-1960, Munich, Schirmer/Mosel, 1982, p. 41 (illustrated; titled "Coney Island, 28th of July 1940, 4 o'clock in the afternoon")
Reinhold Misselbeck, 20TH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY: MUSEUM LUDWIG COLOGNE, Cologne, Taschen, 1996, p. 727 (illustrated)
John Coplans, WEEGEE: NAKED NEW YORK, Munich, Schirmer/Mosel, 1997, cover image and pl. 27 (illustrated; titled "Coney Island, 28th of July 1940, 4 o'clock in the afternoon)
Miles Barth, WEEGEE'S WORLD, NEW YORK, International Center for Photography exh. cat., 1997 pp. 140-141 (illustrated)
Margit Zuckriegl, ed., WEEGEE'S STORY: FROM THE BERINSON COLLECTION, Salzburg, Rupertinum exh. cat., 1999, p. 115 (slight variant illustrated)
Beginning in 1940, Weegee produced his most significant body of work. He was hired by PM, a progressive newspaper that allowed him complete control over his subject matter. The summer of 1940, when PM made its debut, was unusually hot. Weegee decided to capture how New Yorkers would survive the record temperatures. On a Sunday afternoon in July, Weegee visited Coney Island, where over a million people were expected. Here he witnessed lost children, lifeguard rescue rehearsals, and crowds packed like sardines. Always drawn to crowds, Weegee stood upon a lifeguard stand and called attention to himself. The crowd responded en masse, turning to pose for the artist's camera. Weegee took numerous shots, but the present version is the most widely reproduced, as it best captures the spirit of the moment.