Arbus

Diane (1923-1971). American photographer born in New York into a wealthy family of Russian origin — the Nemerovs — that owned the Russeks department store on Fifth Avenue. At the age of 18 she married Allan Arbus and together they opened a photographic studio interested in fashion, doing work for Vogue and Glamour. He concentrated on taking the photos, she on the visual concept. By 1957 their collaboration was beginning to wear thin, just like their marriage. Allan began to take acting lessons while Diane went around the city taking pictures. The studio was officially closed only in 1969. It was in this period that Diane’s personality as a photographer came out, partly thanks to the encouragement of her teacher, the great Lisette Model, but also to the influence of photographers such as Weegee and Robert Frank, with their “rough style,” and the rigorous August Sander. In the 1960s she worked for Junior Bazaar, Esquire, Nova, The New York Times, and New York Magazine (starting with its very first issues, when it was the Sunday magazine of the Herald Tribune). She published portraits in Infinity and worked with Richard Avedon and Marvin Israel on Picture Newspaper, a large-format photomagazine which published twelve issues from 1968 to 1971. She was also interested in teaching and held several workshops. And finally, she had a column in Harper’s Bazaar entitled At My Age. She often alternated fashion pieces with images that were harsh, and sometimes violent, in a language that was blunt and basic. After working many years with a Leica, she turned to the square-format Rolleiflex, at the same time changing her aesthetic vision. In 1967 her great solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York made the photos famous but also emphasized the anxious and fragile aspects of her character.