Diane arbus biography photographer
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Diane Arbus
(1923-1971)
Who Was Diane Arbus?
An artistic youth, Diane Arbus learned photography from her husband, actor Allan Arbus. Together, they found success with fashion work, but Diane soon branched out on her own. Her raw, unusual images of the people she saw while living in New York created a unique and interesting portrayal of the city. She committed suicide in New York City in 1971.
Early Life
Born Diane Nemerov on March 14, 1923, in New York City, Arbus was one of the most distinctive photographers of the 20th century, known for her eerie portraits and off-beat subjects. Her artistic talents emerged at a young age, having created interesting drawings and paintings while in high school. In 1941, she married Allan Arbus, an American actor who fostered her artistic talent by teaching her photography.
Unique Photography
Working with her husband, Arbus started out in advertising and fashion photography. She and Allan became quite a successful grupp, with photographs
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Biography
Diane Arbus was born in New York City, where she studied at the Ethical Culture School. Working with her photographer husband Alan Arbus as a stylist on fashion assignments, she developed an interest in photography that led her to take classes with Lisette Model from 1955 to 1957. Model encouraged her to pursue her own projects, and in 1961, Arbus published her photographs for the first time, in a Harper's Bazaar feature entitled "Portraits of Eccentrics," which began her successful career. Her work appeared in Esquire, Show, The New York Times Magazine, and many other publications, attracting attention very quickly. Arbus won Guggenheim grants in 1963 and 1966 and was included in John Szarkowski's important New Documents exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1967, grouped with Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand as a documentarian of the "social landscape." She taught at Parsons School of Design, Cooper Union, and Rhode Island School of Design. Her work was shown po
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Summary of Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus is an American photographer known for her hand-held black and white images of marginalized people such as midgets, circus freaks, giants, gender non-conforming people, as well as more normalized subjects of suburban families, celebrities, and nudists. Arbus' work can be understood as bizarre, fantastical, and psychologically complex all at once - either way, she took documentary photography a step further. One might feel as though they are violating a social contract with the subject for it often evokes a sense of "othering" through the intense gaze her photography offers. Through Arbus, humans (even the most mundane and neutral) become visual spectacles. Arbus became internationally known for her provocative imagery, and remains one of the most unique Post-Modern American photographers. Although she is often criticized for objectifying her subjects, the power of her images remains.
Accomplishments
- Arbus employed the techniques of documentary