Diana Arbus American photographer of Russian-Jewish origin. Date of Birth: 14.03.1923 Country: USA

Biography of Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus, a Russian-Jewish American photographer, was born on March 14, 1923, in the Greenwich district of New York City. She grew up near the prestigious areas of Park Avenue and Central Park. Her family owned a fur store called Russeks, where they sold both real fur and counterfeit designer clothing, such as Chanel. Arbus's father was the driving force behind the business, a workaholic who was rarely present in the family's life and had numerous affairs. Her mother, on the other hand, was primarily focused on shopping and phone conversations, often unavailable to her own children. Arbus had a close relationship with her older brother Howard, who would later become a renowned poet, and she acted as a mother figure to her younger sister Rene, who became an interior designer. Arbus attended the Ethical Culture School and later the Fieldston School, where her artistic talents were first noticed and nurtured. Her father arranged for her to have private lessons with illustrator Dorothy Thompson, who had studied under the famous Berlin artist George Grosz. Arbus developed a love for Grosz's work and was inspired by Thompson's teachings. In 1937, Arbus met the future actor Allan Arbus and immediately expressed her desire to marry him. However, her parents sent her to summer courses at the Cammington School of Art in 1938, where she met Alex Elliot, who would later become the artistic editor of Time magazine. Alex Elliot became Arbus's second great love. In 1941, against her parents' wishes, eighteen-year-old Arbus married Allan Arbus as a means of escaping their influence. The couple had two daughters together, Doon in 1945 and Amy in 1954. Arbus spent a lot of time with her daughters, while Allan worked two jobs to support the family and pursued photography on the side. In 1943, Allan Arbus completed photography courses in the army. With the influence and support of her husband, Diane Arbus became a fashion photographer in 1946, receiving her first orders from her father, who partially financed their photographic equipment. In 1947, the couple was introduced to the leadership of Condé Nast Publishing Company, where they were commissioned to create a series of photographs about sweaters for Vogue and Glamour magazines. Allan was responsible for the technical aspects of the shoots, while Diane contributed her conceptual and stylistic ideas. Their seamless collaboration often led people to mistake them for cousins. Arbus and her husband sought to break the established boundaries of fashion photography, which was heavily focused on color nuances, stillness, and rigid lighting. They challenged the conventions and brought an informal approach to the process. In the 1950s, they traveled extensively in Europe, where Diane found an outlet for self-expression through photography. In the mid-1950s, the Arbus couple met Richard Avedon, an already established photographer, and maintained a friendship and admiration for each other's work. However, Diane herself was dissatisfied with her own work. During this time, she experienced severe depression, which had plagued her since childhood. Her dissatisfaction with her professional achievements exacerbated her pain. Allan supported his wife, but after another nervous breakdown in 1957, they decided to stop working together. Diane began working independently while Allan continued to run their studio. After their professional split, they separated personally in 1958 and divorced in 1969 when Allan wanted to remarry.
Photography Career and Influences

Diane Arbus embarked on a search for her own photographic style. She attended several workshops led by renowned photographers but remained unsatisfied with the results. It was during a workshop with Austrian photographer Lisette Model, known for her portraits of nighttime city life, that Arbus heard the suggestion to photograph the "extreme." This led her to discover several New York clubs with transvestites, where she found her first models for the "extreme" photography she was seeking. In the late 1950s, Arbus presented her early works on this new theme to various magazines. The famous writer Norman Mailer, upon seeing her photographs, said, "Giving Diane Arbus a camera is like giving a child a hand grenade." From 1960 until her death in 1971, Arbus primarily earned a living as a freelance photojournalist for various magazines. During this time, photography was not yet recognized as a profitable art form by museums and galleries, and photographers often led double lives, working for newspapers and magazines during the week and pursuing their creative endeavors on weekends. Arbus was one of the bold photographers who successfully imposed their artistic vision and style on clients. Many of the subjects she captured in her photographs were considered outsiders by society: transvestites, dwarfs, prostitutes, and mentally and physically disabled individuals. Arbus also photographed ordinary people, but her camera always added an element of alienation and unease to their poses. She never forced her subjects to pose but rather provided them with space and time to find their place in front of her camera. Arbus's photographs cannot be classified as staged or spontaneous; instead, they presented grotesque, repelling, and unusual images even in everyday life. She followed R. J. Mitgarden's approach in creating an atmosphere of unfamiliarity within the mundane. Arbus began using a Rolleiflex camera in 1962, which increased the negative size from 35mm to 6x6cm. This square format suited her centered composition style, and the larger negative allowed for more detail. Arbus always preferred working in the studio, carefully selecting the camera, lighting, and composition, which contradicted the prevailing philosophy of the perfectly composed shot.
Recognition and Legacy

In 1972, the Museum of Modern Art curator John Szarkowski organized a retrospective of Arbus's works, but the catalog of selected photographs was rejected by most publishing houses. Only Aperture magazine agreed to publish the monograph, which became one of the most influential photography books worldwide. It was reprinted 12 times and sold over 100,000 copies. The retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art attracted over 7 million visitors across the country. In the same year, Arbus became the first American photographer to be featured at the Venice Biennale. Her photograph "Identical Twins" remains one of the most expensive photographs of all time, selling for $478,400 in 2004. Arbus's daughter, Doon, collaborated with Richard Avedon on their joint book "ALICE IN WONDERLAND: THE FORMING OF A COMPANY, THE MAKING OF A PLAY," for which Doon wrote the texts. Their relationship with Avedon lasted for thirty years. In 2006, the biographical film "Fur," starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr., was released. The film, with a budget of $12 million, had a limited release in the United States on November 10, 2006, but did not appear in Russian cinemas.