Weegee Photographs: The Elastic Lens Auction Results

The first May auction has taken place through Christie’s Online with the sale of prints by abstract photographer Weegee. The auction brought together 37 lots of black and white prints with estimates ranging from $2,000 to $8,000.

Christie’s billed the auction as:

‘Explore curiously dazzling images of topsy-turvy cityscapes, figure studies and kaleidoscopic abstractions in this online sale of works from Weegee’s ‘Elastic Lens’ series. […] In the darkroom, he employed plastic lenses, mirrors and kaleidoscopes to alter negatives. The plastic lenses morphed the features of cityscapes, celebrity portraits and nude sitters, while textured glass panes placed between the enlarger and photo paper left varying patterns on the resulting images. Weegee continued this series for twenty years, until his death in 1968. In true Weegee fashion, his ‘elastic lens’ images blend high and low culture as a way of exploring the world as he experienced it.’

Taking place online over 2nd – 7th May the auction brought in a sales total of $53,625.

The most expensive lot was Jumping on Beach taken circa 1955, which had an original estimate of $6,000-$8,000 but sold for $4,500 more at $12,500. The second most expensive lot was Lingerie distortion (standing) which sold for $3,500 followed by Lingerie distortion (seated) selling for $2,200.

Click photo titles to view lot on Christie’s page.

View this month’s upcoming auctions on this previous post.