Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus was a distinct American photographer widely known for her black and white images of people such as dwarfs and giants, mentally retarded individuals, triplets, transvestites and nudists. She traveled the city, photographing those who lived on the edge of society. She was fascinated by people who were clearly creating their own identities.
Diane Arbus was born Diane Nemerov to a wealthy Jewish family in New York City on March 14, 1923. She was the second of three children, between her elder brother Howard Nemerov, a prize-winning poet and her younger sister Renee Sparkia, who became a sculptor and designer. Her father, David Nemerov was a very successful businessman. He married Gertrude Russek, whose family had started Russek's Fur store which later became Russek's of Fifth Avenue under David's management. At the age of fourteen Diane met Allan Arbus, who was nineteen, working in the art department of Russek’s. They became deeply involved with each other and fell in love. Although her parents did not approve of their affair, Diane and Allan continued to meet in secrecy for the next four to five years. Soon after Diane turned 18, they were married by a rabbi on April 10, 1941. Faced with reality, her parents gave their blessing to the marriage. They were married for twenty-eight years, and had two children Doon and Amy Arbus. Although Diane and Allan separated after nineteen years, Allan continued to be a emotional support in her life. It was Allan who introduced Diane to photography, when her father gave the couple their first job making advertisement photographs for his store. Allan always encouraged Diane to take her own photos and creativity, but she began to hate the world of fashion photography and start...
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...ntral Park, 1962, Female impersonators' dressing room, N.Y.C. 1958, and the Identical twins, Roselle, N.J., 1967. Arbus tried to make a living from magazines while still following her style and interest, and succeeded to some extent. However, she was suffering from depression, her need for money at in her work, and committed suicide in her apartment on July 26, 1971.
In conclusion, although Arbus was given a lot of public attention and criticized for being exploitative, she changed how the world viewed photographs. She created a unique depiction of the city with her unusual images, showing the world how mad and beautiful the people of New York were in the 1950’s and 60’s.
Works Cited
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/magazine/arbus-reconsidered.html
http://www.biography.com/people/diane-arbus-9187461
Http://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biograpy/arbus.html
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Marrs, Suzanne. Eudora Welty(tm)s Photography: Images into Fiction. Critical Essays on Eudora Welty. W. Craig Turner and Lee Emling Harding. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1989. 288-289.