William Wegman (photographer)
Encyclopedia : W : WI : WIL : William Wegman (photographer)
William Wegman (b. 1943 in Holyoke, Massachusetts) is an art photographer famous for his soulful compositions involving his Weimaraner dogs in various costumes and poses. Originally intending to pursue a career as a painter, Wegman received a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1967.
While teaching at California State University, Long Beach Wegman acquired the first and most famous of the dogs he photographed. He named the Weimaraner Man Ray after the artist and photographer. Man Ray became so popular that the Village Voice named the dog "Man of the Year" in 1982. A subsequent dog was given the name Fay Ray (a play on the name of actress Fay Wray).
On January 29, 1992, Wegman appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and showed a video clip of "Dog Duet," his 1975 short of Fay and Man Ray slowly and mysteriously peering all around. Wegman explained that he had created the odd video by moving a tennis ball around, off camera, riveting the dogs' attention.[link]
Wegman's photos are in the permanent collections at the Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Wegman's photos and videos have also appeared in books, advertisements, films, and on the television programs Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live. In 2006, Wegman's work will be featured in a retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Norton Museum of Art, and the Addison Gallery.
On Sesame Street
Wegman's dogs first appeared on Sesame Street in 1989. Fay Ray starred in segments like "Old McFay Counts to 40". In February 1996, descendants Battina, Crooky, Chundo, and Chip starred in new segments based on nursery rhymes. Wegman told Entertainment Weekly, "They are only [being shot] maybe 30 seconds at a time. The rest of the time they're sitting around, rather blase about life.", through EBSCOhost.Segments include:
- "Old McFay Counts to 40", 1989, with Fay Ray as Old McFay.
- "Little Miss Muffet", 1996, with Crooky as Little Miss Muffet.
- "Jack and Jill", 1996, with Crooky as Jill, and Chundo as Jack.
- "Jack Sprat", 1996, with Chundo as Mrs. Sprat, and Chip as Jack; Wegman notes this is the first time his dogs have played characters not their gender.
Filmography
This list is incomplete, but a work in progress.
- Dog Duet (1974)
- Dog Baseball (1986)
- New Order: Substance (1989)
- Alphabet Soup (1995)
- The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold (1996, screened at Sundance)[link]
- Front Porch (1999)
- Farm Days
- Fay
- How Do You Get to MoMaQns?
- Milk/Floor (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Stomach Song (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Randy's Sick (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Pocketbook Man (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Talking Fish (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Out and In (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Rage and Depression (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Massage Chair (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Crooked Finger/Crooked Stick (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Deodorant (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Growl (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Spelling Lesson (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Drinking Milk (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Starter (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Bad Movies (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- House for Sale (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
- Horseshoes (released on "Selected Video Works 1970-78")
Public art
- [La Jolla Vista View] (1988) was Wegman's first major outdoor permanent sculpture, a part of the Stuart Collection on the campus of the University of California, San Diego.
End materials
Footnotes
External links
- [amNew York Flash Interactive on Wegman's art]
- [William Wegman World]
- [Salon article on William Wegman]
- ["Reading Two Books," 1971 photo at the Hammer Museum]
- ["Skyscraper," 1990 at the LACMA]
- ["Untitled (Gallop)," 1988 at the Smithsonian American Art Institute]
- [The Creative Time Gallery article on William Wegman]
- [UBS Art Collection page on William Wegman]
- [William Wegman: Video Works 1970-1999 DVD]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.