"Weegee: Murder Is My Business"

Tabloid culture and film noir are both indebted to the photographs of Weegee (1899–1968), one of the medium’s iconic names. Born Arthur Fellig in Austria, Weegee started out as a freelance press photographer on the Lower East Side, covering the police beat. But his knack for self-promotion and images of lurid crime scenes and other sensationalist subjects, usually taken at night with a flash, set him apart. His photos became part of New York City’s mythic self-image, collected by institutions like the Museum of Modern Art and embraced by Hollywood. This show covers Weegee in his prime, during the crucial years 1935 to 1946, as Gotham emerged from the Great Depression and plunged into the Second World War.