Diane Arbus
Human society is extremely heterogeneous, it is never black and white, right and wrong. The world around us and within us is a million shades. People often forget about this and try to adopt some form of normality, which in reality is just as relative thing.
We see this relativity of normality in the style of psychological documentaries in the photographs of the legendary photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971).
Throughout her whole life, Diane had been overcoming the normality instilled in society at the time. She was born in the early 20th century to a family of Jewish immigrants and lived with her family in a large apartment on Park Avenue until she was 18. Although her parents encouraged and nurtured her talent in every way and tried to keep her out of troubles in life, she was constantly involving in then.
We see this relativity of normality in the style of psychological documentaries in the photographs of the legendary photographer Diane Arbus (1923-1971).
Throughout her whole life, Diane had been overcoming the normality instilled in society at the time. She was born in the early 20th century to a family of Jewish immigrants and lived with her family in a large apartment on Park Avenue until she was 18. Although her parents encouraged and nurtured her talent in every way and tried to keep her out of troubles in life, she was constantly involving in then.
Diane Arbus
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«If I were just curious, it would be very hard to say to someone, “I want to come to your house and have you talk to me and tell me the story of your life.” I mean people are going to say, “You're crazy.” Plus they're going to keep mighty guarded. But the camera is a kind of license».
At the age of 13 she fell in love with a young worker at her father's store, and finally in an effort to get rid of the excessive care of her parents at the age of 18 she married Allan Arbus. Allan’s dream was to become an actor, but he gave up on his aspirations for the sake of his family and to support himself and Diane he took up commercial photography.
After the Second World War they managed to establish a studio of fashion photography “Diane & Allan Arbus”. Allan dealt mostly with the technical part of the work and Diane assumed the role of an assistant. In a couple of years, their photographs began to appear in the iconic American fashion magazines like Vogue and Glamour.
However, Diane was dissatisfied with her position of an “ordinary assistant” and Allan never had ambition for anything bigger. This provoked several serious conflicts between them and led to depression in her. In 1957, Diane decided to end the relationship and the couple separated.
After the Second World War they managed to establish a studio of fashion photography “Diane & Allan Arbus”. Allan dealt mostly with the technical part of the work and Diane assumed the role of an assistant. In a couple of years, their photographs began to appear in the iconic American fashion magazines like Vogue and Glamour.
However, Diane was dissatisfied with her position of an “ordinary assistant” and Allan never had ambition for anything bigger. This provoked several serious conflicts between them and led to depression in her. In 1957, Diane decided to end the relationship and the couple separated.
Diane Arbus begins roaming the streets of a big city documenting its citizens. In the middle of the 20th century women were not engaged in street photography, but at best remained assistants to their husbands photographers, Diane immediately earned the reputation of a freak. And she photographed equally fringe people.
Her largest series of works focus on people with various physical and mental disabilities or from marginalized backgrounds. However, it was not her only interest, she also focused on any manifestation of internal conflict inherent in human nature. Diane developed her own method of working with her extravagant models: she would talk to them for a long time before shooting, visited their homes, always strove to create close personal connection, and only then would she make the photographs.
Her largest series of works focus on people with various physical and mental disabilities or from marginalized backgrounds. However, it was not her only interest, she also focused on any manifestation of internal conflict inherent in human nature. Diane developed her own method of working with her extravagant models: she would talk to them for a long time before shooting, visited their homes, always strove to create close personal connection, and only then would she make the photographs.
«I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favorite things about it, and when I first did it, I felt very perverse».
For example, her famous photograph “A Jewish Giant at home with his parents in the Bronx” is not only about giant's odd physical features, but rather about the confusion of his parents looking at their “creation”.
Diane Arbus messaged her vision through special techniques. Most notably, it is frontal portrait captured on a square format with a natural composition in a reportage style. She did not shoot in a studio and did not accept staged photography. Secondly, almost all the shots were created using a Rolleiflex camera, with Diane enlarging the negatives to 60-60 mm to make all the details three-dimensional.
Diane Arbus messaged her vision through special techniques. Most notably, it is frontal portrait captured on a square format with a natural composition in a reportage style. She did not shoot in a studio and did not accept staged photography. Secondly, almost all the shots were created using a Rolleiflex camera, with Diane enlarging the negatives to 60-60 mm to make all the details three-dimensional.
Sadly, but her career as a photographer was not long enough. She worked from 1961 (as an independent photographer) to 1971. She was too radical for the time in which she worked. In her lifetime, Diana had only one exhibition (but at the MoMA).
A lifelong sufferer of depressive episodes exacerbated by hepatitis in the late 1960s and having a serious nervous breakdown, the photographer committed suicide in 1971 by drinking massive amounts of barbiturates and cutting her wrists with a razor. In the last years of her life, she was experiencing serious mental health issues and she often complained of unfulfilled and unrealized expectations of her work.
This perpetual struggle for self-awareness reached its peak on July 26, 1971.
But her legacy did not die with her. Just a year later, in 1972 the Museum of Modern Art organized exhibition of her works. Some time later Aperture, a private foundation specializing in photography published a monograph of Diane Arbus, and to this day this book is among the best-selling photobooks in the world!
Moreover, when it comes to specific works of Diane, her photograph “Identical Twins” is 6th in the list of the most expensive photographic works in the world (in 2004, it was sold at Sotheby's for $478,000).
Diane Arbus managed to overcome many stereotypes – she left her quiet family life and immersed herself in such a non-feminine genre as street photography, surpassing many male photographers. Her work still evokes mixed feelings in the audience, but if this is not a sign of genius, then what?
A lifelong sufferer of depressive episodes exacerbated by hepatitis in the late 1960s and having a serious nervous breakdown, the photographer committed suicide in 1971 by drinking massive amounts of barbiturates and cutting her wrists with a razor. In the last years of her life, she was experiencing serious mental health issues and she often complained of unfulfilled and unrealized expectations of her work.
This perpetual struggle for self-awareness reached its peak on July 26, 1971.
But her legacy did not die with her. Just a year later, in 1972 the Museum of Modern Art organized exhibition of her works. Some time later Aperture, a private foundation specializing in photography published a monograph of Diane Arbus, and to this day this book is among the best-selling photobooks in the world!
Moreover, when it comes to specific works of Diane, her photograph “Identical Twins” is 6th in the list of the most expensive photographic works in the world (in 2004, it was sold at Sotheby's for $478,000).
Diane Arbus managed to overcome many stereotypes – she left her quiet family life and immersed herself in such a non-feminine genre as street photography, surpassing many male photographers. Her work still evokes mixed feelings in the audience, but if this is not a sign of genius, then what?