Self-Portrait, Weegee with Speed ​​Graphic Camera, 1950 © International Center of Photography. Friedsam Collection

American photojournalist from the 1930s and 50s, famous for his black and white photos of nightlife in New York, Weegee takes this nickname as a nod to the spirit board, the Ouija board. Because he proclaims himself a “psychic photographer” with the 3rd eye.

Man Arrested for Cross-Dressing, New York, 1939, © International Center of Photography. Louis Stettner Archives,
Paris.

Hunter of scoops, connected to the police radio frequency to be the first on the scene, he earns his living with press photography.

He works at night on the flash on news items, murders, fires, accidents. Chalk tracing is his specialty, but also salad baskets.

He shoots those who lower their hats over their faces so as not to be seen, like transvestites who show off.

Charles Sodokoff and Arthur Webber Use Their Top Hats to Hide Their Faces, 1942 © International Center of Photography. Louis Stettner Archives, Paris

Then in the 1940s, he headed to Hollywood and set his sights on socialites and stars. We note the contrast between his flash photos in New York and his photos manipulated in the lab in his second phase of professional life.

His last exhibition in Paris was in 2007 at the Dina Vierny Galerie. This spotlight at the Cartier-Bresson Foundation, which is richer, shows several collections.

Weegee’s “Autopsy of the Show” exhibition
Cartier-Bresson Foundation
Until 19 May 24

79 Street Archives, 75003 Paris
Tuesday to Sunday from 11 a.m. to 19 p.m.
Tel: +01 40 61 50 50 XNUMX

Afternoon Crowd at Coney Island, Brooklyn, 1940, © International Center of Photography. Courtesy Galerie, Berinson, Berlin.

Text: Valérie Rodrigue

05.01.24

THERE ARE LOTS OF MUSEUMS HERE

Annie Ernaux, the literature of reality at the MEP

Annie Ernaux, the literature of reality at the MEP

The 2022 Nobel Prize-winning writer has been interested in photography for a long time, notably in the text “the use of photography”, a four-handed story published in 2006. At the European House of Photography, on the banks of the Seine , the exhibition Exteriors - Annie Ernaux & Photography flourishes until May 26, 2024.

Joann Sfar featured at MAHJ

Joann Sfar featured at MAHJ

Who doesn’t know the comic strip “The Rabbi’s Cat”? Its creator, Joann Sfar, was born in Nice in 1971. In this retrospective at the Museum of Art and History of Judaism in the heart of the Marais, the first of its kind, we will see many original plates presented in images by the famous cat .

Salonika, the “Jerusalem of the Balkans” is reborn at the MahJ

Salonika, the “Jerusalem of the Balkans” is reborn at the MahJ

For some, the memory of vacations in Greece is not very far away. But for everyone, the possibility of returning there immediately is open to us. The Museum of Art and History of Judaism (MahJ) is dedicating an exhibition to Salonika – today called Thessaloniki – the port city of the Aegean Sea…

Divine brunch at the foot of Notre-Dame

Divine brunch at the foot of Notre-Dame

Of course, officially, it is not the Marais. But at Son de la Terre, a barge recently moored at the Montebello quay (5th), the 4th arrondissement is in sight. Moreover, this one is incredible: on one side, it is Notre-Dame flooded with sunlight; on the other, the quays, the book sellers, the walkers, the joggers.

Saka, a cocktail bar like in Tokyo

Saka, a cocktail bar like in Tokyo

Here is an address which gives the measure of the transformation of the Marais. And it's enough to silence the grumpy people whose mantra is: “It was better before…” No, everything was not better “before” in the Marais. Besides, there was no American bar like Saka, which cultivates a form of excellence that can only be found in Japan.

Jazz at 38Riv: The highlights of May

Jazz at 38Riv: The highlights of May

The only jazz club in the Marais, 38Riv is the temple of cool and swing. Rue de Rivoli, between Saint-Paul and Hôtel de Ville, its vaulted cellars are the home base of the new jazz scene. Every evening, the magic happens.