Crime scene photographs exhibited on Getty walls

Photographs of transvestites, call girls and murder victims have
long graced the covers of tabloids, but the new exhibition at the
Getty Center thrusts those images from their placement under
newspaper headlines to the walls of a respected art museum.

“Scene of the Crime: Photo by Weegee” features over
60 news images by Arthur Fellig, known as “Weegee the
Famous,” that document everything from murder scenes and
fires to race riots and human interest shots in New York during the
1930s and ’40s. The exhibit opened on Sept. 20 and runs
through Jan. 22.

While most of the city slept, Weegee was out scouring the city
at night searching for the people, crimes and events that can only
come out or take place with the protection of darkness. After he
had captured enough of the night’s affairs on film, Weegee
would rush from editor to editor to sell his images to the
papers.

The exhibit also includes pieces by photojournalists George
Watson and Coy Watson Jr., who Weegee worked with during a brief
stint in Los Angeles, and from whom he found his inspiration for
the scene-of-the-crime photojournalism for which he became
famous.

Living up to the title of the exhibit, “Scene of the
Crime,” the Getty walls are indeed replete with images of
murder scenes and robberies, and Weegee presents the crimes from a
variety of angles. The exhibit shows murderers caged behind bars,
police officers standing over bodies oozing blood, and even a photo
of a detective reclining on a couch next to a murder victim’s
body, as though it was nothing out of the ordinary.

In his photograph of schoolchildren looking at a gambler who had
been killed in the street, Weegee revised its title to read
“Their First Murder,” revealing his jaded view of the
city’s ability to stop violence. And, for someone who has
made a career of photographing the city’s most brutal crimes,
recording even the messiest affair on film is for Weegee, like the
completely unaffected detective, just one more night on the
job.

And while no doubt wildly sensational in his time,
Weegee’s business-like approach to these extraordinary scenes
manages to give them a credibility lacking in today’s tabloid
photographers and TV camera crews. Weegee does not seem bent on
exploiting his subject matter because he finds the scene’s
honest presentation intriguing enough. However, today’s
museumgoers will be less shocked by the photos than Weegee’s
original audience.

Although crime and disaster photos do make up a good portion of
the exhibit, the more uplifting human-interest photos are equally
captivating. In an effort to convey all walks of New York life,
Weegee documented people everywhere, from clubs and churches in
Harlem to parties in Greenwich Village and upper-class soirees at
the Metropolitan Opera House.

His use of infrared allowed him to take photos of people at
night without a flash, so his subjects behave as though no one is
watching. And Weegee’s fascination with the lives of the
working class is apparent when their carefree, fun faces dancing
the night away are juxtaposed with the haughty demeanor of affluent
socialites.

The people Weegee found on his expeditions are not characters in
costume, but actual people letting their guard down in the dark,
whether it be to mourn the loss of life or party in the Village.
And in a celebrity tabloid-obsessed era, it’s actually
refreshing to see tabloid newspaper images that don’t look
like out-of-context paparazzi photos.

-Jess Rodgers