Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, NYC 1962

Diane Arbus is one of my favourite photographers (pronounced Dee-Anne).  Born March 14, 1923, Diane married Allan Arbus at age 18 and shortly after WWII, the couple began a Fashion Photography business together.   With the consent of her husband, Diane stepped out of the family business to pursue her own photography career.  Her marriage also ended not long after the business partnership dissolved.

This new found freedom allowed Diane to venture into questionable corners of the world.  ”I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.”, commented Arbus.  Her photographs of the troubled and different are haunting and mesmerizing.

Daniel Oppenheimer describes her work: “The photos are amazing to look at, startling even now, when images of the downtrodden and the marginal have become the common property of advertisements and movies. And they are formally innovative, marrying the conventions of 19th century portrait photography –face-front, amongst one’s things, subject in collaboration with photographer — to the seamy concerns of the 1960s.”

Click on the GalleryBook to view excellent copies of Diane Arbus’ photographs.

More to come…