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Weegee the Famous

Photograph
1963 (photographed), late 1970s (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Black and white photograph depicting a tight head-shot style portrait of a man with white hair holding a camera to his right eye. The camera is inscribed with the word 'Zenith' and the man has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleWeegee the Famous (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin silver print
Brief description
Richard Sadler, 'Weegee the Famous', Coventry, 1963, printed late 1970s. Gelatin silver print from a group of three portraits of Weegee given to the V&A by Sadler
Physical description
Black and white photograph depicting a tight head-shot style portrait of a man with white hair holding a camera to his right eye. The camera is inscribed with the word 'Zenith' and the man has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
Dimensions
  • Image width: 23.3cm
  • Image height: 23.3cm
  • Sheet width: 28cm
  • Image height: 35.5cm
Styles
Marks and inscriptions
Recto: Bottom left, black ink: ''89' Bottom right, signed in black ink: 'Richard Sadler'
Gallery label
Richard Sadler (born 1927) Weegee the Famous, Coventry 1963 In the 1940s, New York press photographer Weegee began stamping the backs of his photographs with ‘Weegee the Famous’. By 1963, when he visited Coventry, his fame was international. His trip coincided with ‘Russian Camera Week’ at the Owen Owen department store. The Zenit 3M he holds to his eye was a newly-introduced Russian camera. Gelatin silver print (printed 1970s) Given by Richard Sadler Museum no. E.2879-1995(23/7/2016-5/3/2017)
Credit line
Given by the artist
Object history
Given to the museum by Richard Sadler as part of a group of three portraits of Weegee
Production
Negatives 1960, prints late 1970's
Series Date: 1960 - late 1970s
Subjects depicted
Association
Bibliographic reference
Provided by Sadler to the V&A in 2002 Tessa Sidey, late Curator (Fine Art) at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery: 'A portrait that suggests both homage, from one photographer to another, and construct about the photographic vision. Sadler focuses on the face and direct gaze of the famous American photographer Weegee. One eye is open, alert and fixed on the visible world, while the second "framed" eye is the camera itself, Weegee's Zenith. We, the viewers, appear to be the point of study for Weegee at the same time as Sadler is studying his fellow practitioner. Or is this portrait also encapsulating the essential relationship between subject, photographer and viewer? Weegee's eye and the essential prop of his trade are inter-dependent with us in our real space, as is Sadler's; the construct is both finite and infinite.'
Collection
Accession number
E.2879-1995

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Record createdMarch 31, 2009
Record URL
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