Weegee, Robert Kennedy, 1968

Silver print. height - 10 in, width - 8 in. signed, inscribed, signed below image by Weegee: inscribed to Bernice. Berenice maybe Bernice Rose, curator of drawings at the Museum of Modern Art in 1968 who had some association with Arthur Fellig (Weegee). Estimate: from $1,500 to $2,500

Note: This portrait of Robert Kennedy is one of Weegees famous "Distortions" which he made using a lens he had devised for his 1948 film Weegee's "New York." With these "distortions" Weegee often combined different techniques, and experimented to get different effects while enlarging the negatives.

Both Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy were candidates in the democratic primary in 1968, challenging LBJ who subsequently announced he wouldn't seek re-election. Kennedy was assassinated after the California primary.

Artnet online auctions. Thursday, January 08, 2009. www.artnet.com/auctions