Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus (b. Diane Nemerov, March 14, 1923, New York City; d. (suicide) July 26, 1971) was an American photographer of Russian Jewish descent.

Famous photographs

• Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City (1962) http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/arbus_hand_grenade_full.html - A scrawny little boy in a jumper with the left strap awkwardly hanging off his shoulder stands with his long, thin arms held tensely by his side. A toy grenade is clenched in his right hand and his left hand is held in a claw-like gesture. His face could be described as maniacal. Arbus captured this expression by having the boy stand there while she kept moving around him, claiming she tried to find the right angle. After a while, the boy became impatient with her and told her to "take the picture already!", creating the expression that seems to convey that the boy has violence in mind, gripping the grenade tightly in his hand.
• Identical Twins, (1967) http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/twins/ - A picture of young twin sisters standing side by side in corduroy dresses. One is slightly smiling and the other is slightly frowning. This photo gained a unique notoriety when seized as inspiration by Stanley Kubrick in his film The Shining, where twins in an identical pose functioned to inspire terror. While never noted verbally by the taciturn director, Arbus's aesthetic indisputably informs both the horror of The Shining and his final film Eyes Wide Shut, which isolates and exhibits masked characters and sexuality similarly.
• Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in The Bronx, NY (1970) http://www.temple.edu/photo/photographers/arbus/arbusp3.htm - A photo of Eddie Carmel, the "Jewish Giant", standing in his family's apartment with his much shorter mother and father. Some interpret it as showing how the man's unusual body has not interfered with having a normal and happy homelife. Others see a stiffness in the parents' postures and find it to show a gulf between Eddie and his family, perhaps indication of disappointment or sorrow over his strange appearance and predictably short lifespan; some see Mrs. Carmel's expression as she looks up at her son as that of surprise, as though she has just encountered him for the first time.