Lot Essay
Weegee's love of the circus seems only natural considering his penchant for photographing the dramatic and extreme side of life. According to Suzanne Johnston, "Weegee went to the circus every year to do some of his strongest photography. He knew that to enjoy to the fullest the amazing skills of high-wire performances requires the complete concentration and freshness of a child...it was not enough to capture a crucial moment of The Woman on a Tightrope while she walks...but to see an audience of adults and children looking up at her, closely... Weegee taught me that the best still photograph should be 'da peaka de action.'" He has taken this one step further in The Flying Trapeze and has exaggerated the length of the acrobats' arms to emphasize their motion, and in Whirl of Gymnasts, he has used his specially adapted enlarger lenses to create a kaleidoscope effect.