14 rooms in Artist and Society
Stark portraits taken in the 1960s and early 1970s draw attention to the relationship between photographer and subject
Diane Arbus was a photographer who lived and worked in New York City. She was born into an affluent family who owned a department store on Fifth Avenue. At the age of 18 she married Allan Arbus, and he gave her a camera in 1941. The couple worked together for a decade, he as photographer, she as stylist, producing photographs for fashion magazines.
Their collaboration ended in 1956 when she left the partnership and began seriously pursuing the work for which she has come to be known.
Arbus said when she first started photography, since there were so many people in the world, she thought she should capture a kind of ‘generalised human being’. Instead, her teacher, the renowned photographer Lisette Model suggested: ‘the more specific you are, the more general it'll be.’ Arbus's interest in photographing all kinds of people led her to create a compelling and complex portrait of society.
In 1962, Arbus started using a twin-lens reflex Rolleiflex camera.
Held at waist level, its bulky size meant her subjects always knew their picture was being taken. Arbus often befriended and collaborated with her sitters, giving them the space to present themselves as they wished.
Her approach divided critics and audiences: some found it exploitative, others compassionate. For Arbus, clarity of detail was paramount – she illuminated with equal intensity the uniqueness of all her subjects.