Object number1987.19.2
Tired Businessman at the Circus
Date6/28/1943
Artist
Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
(American b. Austria, 1899-1968)
CultureAmerican
MediumGelatin silver print, printed later
DimensionsImage: 10 3/16 x 12 7/8 in. (25.9 x 32.7 cm)
Sheet: 10 15/16 x 13 7/8 in. (27.8 x 35.2 cm)
Sheet: 10 15/16 x 13 7/8 in. (27.8 x 35.2 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase
On View
Not on viewPeriod20th c
Classification(s)
MarkingsOn verso, stamped center in black ink [circled]: CREDIT PHOTO BY / WEEGEE / THE FAMOUS
BibliographyWeegee's World, p. 228 Vassar Exhibitions
Exhibition HistoryNaked City: Photographs from Vassar College’s Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL, November 18, 2010 - January 29, 2011 Label TextTabloid photography has long been a genre of bending or outright inventing “reality” for mass entertainment. The photographer known as Weegee was a masterful pioneer of sensational photography for public consumption in the mid-twentieth century. His subjects ranged from movie stars to crime scenes to mundane moments of everyday life. A self-styled celebrity himself, Weegee understood photography’s unique role in a culture that values sellable spectacles over adherence to truth. He was adept at using photographic technology to reveal the slippage between truth and fiction, often photographing at night and exploiting the unnatural brightness of the flash bulb to isolate his subjects, making everyday moments look grotesque, strange, and uncanny.
DescriptionBlack and white image of a man in a white uniform with a hat reading "BEER 25¢ BEER IN BOTTLES" as he sits asleep in a chair with one hand in his pocket and one hand holding supporting his face. A young girl walks towards and looks directly at the camera in the lower right corner of the frame. She wears a light colored hat and is visible from the shoulders up.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge.
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