DAY 53

FAMOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS

Diane Arbus (1923–1971)

FREAK PHOTOGRAPHY

The images of Diane Arbus are often unsettling; dark, gritty, and more than a little bit creepy. She used a medium format camera to portray the underbelly of society with vivid clarity and detail, often with flash lighting to further exaggerate the facial expressions and vulnerability of her subjects. She considered herself a visual anthropologist and was known to haunt Coney Island, nightclubs, and the freak show at Hubert’s Museum in Times Square in search of subject matter. One of her most famous images, Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967, was echoed in Stanley Kubrick’s film, The Shining.

Arbus began her photographic career in a studio collaboration with her husband, Allan Arbus, with whom she worked for many years. It wasn’t until after their separation that she began to scour and study the gritty side of city life and her personal work began to flourish. Her lifelong battle with mental illness created a deep fear of being depressed; she used this fear as a stimulus to power her photographic adventures.

After her photo essay of six “typical” New Yorkers appeared in the July 1960 issue of Esquire, Arbus’ solo commercial career was born, and she went on to create over 250 pictures for publications, such as Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, New York, Essence, Sports Illustrated, and The Saturday Evening Post.

Diane Arbus was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships, in 1963 and 1966. She took her own life in 1971 at age 48. —GC