Diane Arbus (1923-1971) is one of the most celebrated American photographers of the 20th century, best known for capturing subjects who lived on the edges of society.
Diane Arbus (1923-1971) is one of the most celebrated American photographers of the 20th century, best known for capturing subjects who lived on the edges of society.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. This is Womanica.
This month, we’re talking about visionaries -- women who made profound contributions to the fields of photography, film, sculpture, and the performing arts. Many of these women were radical artists who pushed conceptual boundaries within and beyond the art world.
Today’s visionary is one of the most celebrated American photographers of the 20th Century. She is best known for capturing subjects who lived on the edges of society. Please welcome Diane Arbus.
Diane was born Diane Nemerov on March 14, 1923. She grew up in a wealthy New York City family that owned Russek’s, a 5th Avenue department store. Diane’s family excelled in the creative. Her older brother Howard went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and her younger sister Renee was a sculptor and designer.
From a young age, it was clear that Diane was a gifted artist. Her father encouraged her to pursue painting. Diane studied art in school but quit painting as soon as she finished high school. Years later when reflecting on why she stopped painting rather abruptly, she said, “I had the sense that if I was so terrific at it, it wasn’t worth doing.”
When Diane was 14 years old, she met Allan Arbus, a 19-year-old aspiring photographer who was the nephew of one of her father’s business partners. Despite her parents' disapproval, the couple married when Diane was 18.
Together, Diane and Allan shared a love of photography. Allan bought Diane her first camera and they turned their bathroom into a part-time darkroom. They started their own fashion photography company and took on Diane’s family’s department store as their first client.
During World War II, Allan served as a military photographer. Diane gave birth to their first daughter Doon while he was stationed in 1945. The couple would go on to have a second daughter, Amy, in 1954.
When Allan returned from the war, he and Diane worked with some of the top magazines and ad agencies. Typically Diane acted as the stylist while her husband shot the photos.
Diane and Allan eventually grew tired of fashion photography. Diane was more interested in art photography while Allan had dreams of becoming an actor. In 1956, Diane quit their business to pursue art photography on her own. At the same time, Allan pursued acting and eventually landed a role on the television series M*A*S*H.
While photography for magazines was booming at the time, little attention was paid to photos as works of art. Fellow photographers who had left the art world such as Robert Frank and William Klein were pursuing street photography, a style which aimed to capture ordinary people and unexpected beauty. Some of Diane’s early explorations in art photography followed this style. It wasn’t until she took classes with Lisette Model that she started to find her unique artistic voice.
In an interview with Diane’s daughter Doon, Lisette Model recalled that Diane came to her one day and said “I want to photograph what is evil.” Doon interpreted her mother’s words as though she was really looking to capture what was “forbidden” or had been “too dangerous, too frightening, or too ugly for anyone else to look on.” For most of her art photography career, Diane would seek out the places and characters on the fringes of society.
In 1959, Diane and Allan officially separated. Diane moved into a small carriage house in Connecticut with her two children and focused on finding work that would bring in money.
That year, Diane got her first solo magazine assignment for Esquire. She produced a photo essay of New York City portraits. The photos were taken on a 35-millimeter camera with natural lighting, which was in line with the street photography style of the time. In 1962, she started taking photos with a 2 ¼ format camera, which brought out bright details and sharper images. Diane had grown tired of the grainier photos that she was taking with 35-millimeter. She said she wanted “to see the difference between flesh and material, the densities of different kinds of things: air and water and shiny.”
During this time, Diane took to photographing places that most photographers did not step near. She explored dance halls, circuses, wax museums and more.
Through the end of her life, Diane made her mark on the worlds of fashion, editorial, and art.She went on to publish over 250 photos in magazines. In 1967, she had 32 photos chosen for an exhibition at MOMA titled “New Documents”. Among the photos was “Identical Twins,” which remains one of her most famous photographs. It’s said to be mirrored in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining.
Diane’s MOMA exhibition received mixed reviews. One reviewer called her work “brutal, daring and revealing” while another wrote that her work “borders close to poor taste.”
Following the exhibition, Diane struggled to book more fashion work. Likely in part due to the fact that celebrities did not want to be photographed by the woman who had been dubbed the “wizard of odds” by one critic.
But even as she struggled to bring in more money from her photography, her recognition in the art world grew. In 1971, she was the first American photographer chosen to represent the United States at the Venice Biennale.
Throughout her life, Diane struggled with depression. On July 26, 1971, she took her own life at the age of 48.
The year after her death, the director of photography at the MOMA at the time, John Szarkowski, curated an exhibit of her work. On the wall of the show, he wrote, “She stuck with her subjects, exploring their secrets (and thus her own) more and more deeply. She was surely aware of the danger of this path, but she believed that her bravery would be equal to the demands she made of it.”
All month, we’re talking about visionaries.
To see some of Diane Arbus’s photographs, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. And special thanks to Alesandra Tejeda who curated this month’s theme.
Talk to you tomorrow!