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Diane Arbus

Photographer of a Dark Vision

Jan 10, 2008 Catherine Owen

Diane Arbus was a unique artist with a revelatory perception of humanity. She is remembered most for her portraits of society's forgotten denizens.

Diane Arbus (1923-1971) was a visionary photographer who sought out the dark side of humanity to reveal difficult truths. Remembered primarily as an artist obsessed with social misfits, Arbus's open mind led her far from a coddled upbringing. She started her career in the fashion industry and ended it among society's unseen.

Her Personal Foundation

Diane Arbus was raised in a wealthy Jewish home by David and Gertrude Nemerov. David ran Russek's Furs, a very successful set of department stores in New York. Her mother was frequently depressed and her father traveled. Diane was left alone with her siblings, Howard, later a well known poet, and Renee, a sculptor. The imaginary worlds she created with her brother in particular formed the basis for her sense of exclusion and separation.

When she was thirteen, she met Alan Arbus, an employee of the department store. They married once she turned eighteen. Her parents ceased supporting her and she was forced to rely on the small salary fashion photography brought in. They had two daughters, Doon and Yolanda. By 1959, Diane no longer worked as the artistic designer of their fashion business. She had taken up photography after Alan bought her a camera. Their marriage split up shortly afterwards and he remarried in 1969, pursuing a later career as an actor. Diane committed suicide in 1971, following a lengthy spell of depression.

Her Transformative Vocation

When Diane began taking photographs, she knew she wanted to snap what was foreign to her, forbidden and risky. Yet she first had to overcome shyness. Her mentor, Lisette Model, helped, telling her to capture what compelled her. She was fascinated by light, murky printing techniques, and the relationship between the artist and their subjects. Beginning with a 35 mm camera, Arbus eventually accumulated a large collection of equipment, always trying to alter her style and seek the new. Later on, she was influenced by the painter Marvin Israel.

Beginning with subjects like tattooed women and dwarfs, she became known for her photos of nudists, troubled or impoverished young people and transvestites. Her work was celebrated at the New Documents show in 1967, among many others; MOMA held a retrospective in 1972. Arbus continually rendered herself vulnerable to gain the confidence of her muses. Although some have considered her work voyeuristic, it remains a powerful validation of human fears and frailties.

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