When Naked City was published in 1945, it was an instant success and inspired a Hollywood film. Naked City is
Weegee’s unflinching look at his beloved New York City through photos by turns ironic, hilarious, seamy and brutal.
Photographing the city at all hours and in all its guises, Weegee created a thrilling, lonely and candid portrait, and a style
that was to inspire younger photographers, not least Diane Arbus. Steidl’s facsimile of Naked City carefully recreates
the original book, bringing to life an object that is in form and spirit as close as possible to the first edition, and of which
Weegee would be proud.
Weegee (Arthur Fellig, 1899–1968) is best known for his tabloid news photos of urban crowds, crime scenes and
New York City nightlife of the 1930s and 1940s. Between 1935 and 1946, Weegee was perhaps the most relentlessly
inventive figure in American photography. Weegee later dedicated himself to what he called “creative photography”,
images made through distorting lenses and other optical effects. He also made short films and collaborated with film
directors such as Jack Donohue and Stanley Kubrick, as a special-effects consultant and still photographer.
Naked City
von Weegee
