Diane Arbus

DIANE ARBUS 1923-1971

Born Diane (Dee-Ann) Nemerov in New York to a wealthy Jewish family.

BIOGRAPHY ••

1923

Born Diane (Dee-Ann) Nemerov in New York to a wealthy Jewish family.

BIOGRAPHY ••

1923

1941 Married Allan Arbus at age 18. Her father hired them to make advertisement / fashion photographs for his department store.

Born Diane (Dee-Ann) Nemerov in New York to a wealthy Jewish family.

BIOGRAPHY ••

1923

1941

1955

Married Allan Arbus at age 18. Her father hired them to make advertisement / fashion photographs for his department store.

Studied under Lisette Model at The New School (NY) for 2 years , developing her “documentary eye” and documented transvestites, twins, midgets, and asylum inmates.

Born Diane (Dee-Ann) Nemerov in New York to a wealthy Jewish family.

BIOGRAPHY ••

1923

1941

1955

1960

Married Allan Arbus at age 18. Her father hired them to make advertisement / fashion photographs for his department store.

Studied under Lisette Model at The New School (NY) for 2 years , developing her “documentary eye” and documented transvestites, twins, midgets, and asylum inmates.

Worked as a photojournalist. Got published in Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Sunday Times, and others.

BIOGRAPHY ••

Received Guggenheim Fellowships for American Rites, Manners and Customs project.

1963& 1966

BIOGRAPHY ••

Received Guggenheim Fellowships for American Rites, Manners and Customs project.

1963

1967 Work mounted in New Documents show at Museum of Modern Art, NY

& 1966

BIOGRAPHY ••

Received Guggenheim Fellowships for American Rites, Manners and Customs project.

1963

1967

1971

Work mounted in New Documents show at Museum of Modern Art, NY

Committed suicide at age 48 by cutting herself and overdosing

& 1966

Waist-level viewfinder helped connect with the subjects

TECHNIQUE

TECHNIQUE

Experimented with use of flash in daylight to make her subjects stand out more against the background

Waist-level viewfinder helped connect with the subjects

TECHNIQUE

Spent hours with her subjects, followed them home and talked to them to loosen them up so they quit acting, act natural, and are “unmasked.”

Experimented with use of flash in daylight to make her subjects stand out more against the background

Waist-level viewfinder helped connect with the subjects

TECHNIQUE

Spent hours with her subjects, followed them home and talked to them to loosen them up so they quit acting, act natural, and are “unmasked.”

Experimented with use of flash in daylight to make her subjects stand out more against the background

Waist-level viewfinder helped connect with the subjects

Subjects are in focus and look directly at the camera with frontal lighting and/or flash, which makes them look “eager to reveal their flaws.”

INSIGHT

“Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot … It was one of the first things I photographed...

Most people go through life dreading they'll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.

What I'm trying to describe is that it's impossible to get out of your skin into somebody else's.... That somebody else's tragedy is not the same as your own.

FAMOUS WORK

1962Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, NY

••••

Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey 1967••••

Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in The Bronx, NY 1970••••

Masked Woman in a Wheelchair, PA 1970••••

MIDGETS

TRANSVESTITES

“A BOX OF TEN PHOTOGRAPHS”

RANDOM

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art Historyhttp://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ndoc/ho_2007.509.htm

Photography-Now – International Fine Art Photography Indexhttp://photography-now.net/listings/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=350&Itemid=334

Jewish Virtual Library – A Division of The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprisehttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arbus.html

Diane Arbus Photographyhttp://diane-arbus-photography.com/

RESOURCES