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Sleeper in a Bar

Date
1939
Classification
Photographs
Current Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 13 9/16 × 10 5/8 in. (34.4 × 27 cm)
sheet: 13 15/16 × 10 15/16 in. (35.4 × 27.8 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Bruce A. Kirstein in memory of Marc S. Kirstein
Rights
© International Center of Photography / Getty Images
Object Number
33:1978
NOTES
Arthur Fellig, nicknamed Weegee, was a freelance photojournalist in New York City who preferred working at night. In this photograph, a lone man attempts to sleep in uncomfortable circumstances: the hard bench and table of a bar. A burst of flash from Weegee’s camera pulls the figure out of the darkness around him. With a direct and unsentimental approach, he attempted to capture the range of nocturnal life, including quiet moments of isolated figures within the crowded city.

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