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.

Life and work

Arbus came from a wealthy family, in which she was overshadowed by her older brother, the poet Howard Nemerov. At age fourteen, she fell in love with actor Allan Arbus, and as soon as she became eighteen, she married him despite objections from her parents. A few years later Allan started to work as a photographer for the US Army, at night teaching Diane what he learned by day; she also learned about photography through Lisette Model. She ran a successful fashion photography studio for twenty years with her husband, before they separated in 1959. The Arbuses had two children, photographer Amy Arbus and writer and art director Doon Arbus.

Related Topics:
Poet - Howard Nemerov - Allan Arbus - US Army - 1959 - Writer - Art - Doon Arbus

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After separating from her husband, she studied with Alexey Brodovitch and Richard Avedon. Then, from 1960, Arbus worked extensively as a photojournalist, her work appearing in magazines including Esquire, New York Times Magazine, Harper's Bazaar and the Sunday Times magazine, among others. She gained a Guggenheim fellow grant in 1963, and had her first show at MoMA in New York in 1967.

Related Topics:
Alexey Brodovitch - Richard Avedon - 1960 - Photojournalist - Esquire - Harper's Bazaar - Sunday Times - Guggenheim fellow - 1963 - MoMA - 1967

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The work for which Arbus is most known for today is her photographs depicting outsiders, such as tranvestites, dwarves, giants, and prostitutes, as well as ordinary citizens in poses and settings that convey a disturbing uncanniness. Her voyeuristic approach does not, however, demean her subjects. In most portraits the subjects are on their own turf, seemingly comfortable. It is the viewer who is made to feel uncomfortable by the subject's acceptance of their "freakishness".

Related Topics:
Tranvestite - Dwarves - Giant - Prostitute - Voyeuristic

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She taught photography in the 1960s at colleges in New York and Amherst, Massachusetts, before ending her own life in 1971 at the age of 48. It has been rumored that she took photographs of her own suicide, but none were discovered when police arrived at the scene.

Related Topics:
1960s - Amherst, Massachusetts

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Aperture magazine was later crucial in reviving the reputation of Diane Arbus. MoMA curator John Szarkowski was preparing to stage a major Arbus retrospective in 1972, but the prospect of an accompanying Diane Arbus catalogue/book been turned down by all major publishing houses in the USA and even in Europe. Aperture's Michael E. Hoffman took on the challenge, delivering one of the most influential photography books ever published, in time for the show.

Related Topics:
''Aperture'' magazine - John Szarkowski - 1972 - USA - Europe

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Although her earlier work was created using the 35mm format, by the early 1960s Arbus had adopted the Rolleiflex medium format twin-lens reflex. This provided a square Aspect ratio (image) and higher image resolution.

Related Topics:
35mm - Rolleiflex - Medium format - Twin-lens reflex - Aspect ratio (image)

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