An indulgent Elizabeth Taylor. A torso-less Marlene Dietrich. A distorted face of Marilyn Monroe. Like Judy Garland’s eyes? Got that covered too. There are dozens of them. See them all at the delightful Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles, the first exhibition in Los Angeles dedicated to the work Weegee (1899-1968) produced in Southern California. [Read: Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles]
Snapping shots as a photojournalist during the ’30s and ’40s, Weegee (a.k.a. Arthur Fellig) made a name for himself with his stark, black-and-white photos of blood-soaked accident and crime scenes. His nickname, Weegee, was derived from a phonetic pronunciation of Ouija board, reflecting his eerie ability to make it to the scenes minutes before authorities’ arrival.
A decade after capturing gory images for the press in New York, Weegee sold the film rights of Naked City, his 1945 book of crimson photographs, and relocated to Los Angeles to take on the glittering Hollywood scene. But Weegee wasn’t considered a run-of-the-mill paparazzo. Instead of shooting movie stars, he was more drawn to those who were ogling at or photographing celebrities, such as frenzied fans and tabloid photographers.
In one series, Weegee captured the excitement of a young, female fan waiting to see Hollywood luminaries and her subsequent devastation when she failed to get an autograph.
When Weegee’s lens did point at movie stars, however, he often caught them in unflattering moments and did so with a mission: To reveal the ugly side of celebrity. “I had to have a lens out of this world to do justice to the strange sights and people which are Hollywood,” avowed the prolific photographer.
“[Weegee] was deeply critical and cutting in his attitude toward stardom,” explained Richard Meyer, curator of the Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles exhibition. The fearless photographer would distort an otherwise glamorous photo into something grotesque, using multiple exposures and trick lens to achieve surreal results. “Distorting the image of a star was his way of bringing them down a peg for their excesses,” Meyer told Los Angeles Times.
Alongside bizarre and irreverent images of luminaries such as Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, and Judy Garland, Weegee’s absurd city photos and other projects as an author and filmmaker are also on display, including captures of strippers, costume shops, and naked mannequins; photos from his 1953 book Naked Hollywood; and shots on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Naked Hollywood: Weegee is held at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles. On view now through Feb. 27, 2012.
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| When: | Back to Calendar » November 13, 2011 – February 27, 2012 |
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| Contact: | http://www.moca.org |
| Categories: | United States |
| Tags: | Elizabeth Taylor Judy Garland Los Angeles Marilyn Monroe Marlene Dietrich Weegee |
| Where: | Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) 250 S Grand Ave Los Angeles, CA 90012 USA |
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