Live Auction 14358Visionaries: Photographs from the Emily and Jerry Spiegel Collection
WEEGEE (1899–1968)
Lot 32

WEEGEE (1899–1968)

The Critic, 1943

Closed10 October 2017

Price Realised

USD 18,750

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WEEGEE (1899–1968)
The Critic, 1943
ferrotyped gelatin silver print, printed late 1950s–1960s
stamped photographer's '451 West 47th Street' credit (verso)
image: 10 1/8 x 13 in. (25.7 x 33 cm.)
sheet: 11 1/8 x 14 in. (28.2 x 35.5 cm.)

Swann Galleries, New York, November 5, 1981, lot 392;
acquired from the above sale by the present owner.

Specialist note

One of Weegee's most famous images, The Critic documents high society arriving at the opera house on opening night of the Metropolitan Opera in 1943, amidst a group of people presumably waiting in line for standing room as well as a disheveled onlooker. When the image was first reproduced in Life magazine, the 'plain people' to the left were eliminated, while in the present work, we see the photographer's full, uncropped view.