Mr. Estrin, you can’t just put a throw away line in this article such as, “She died two months later.”
She committed suicide, a big difference from the natural way death comes to one’s life.
Her struggles may have been reflected in her work. Her inner torment and whatever demons caused her death cannot be overlooked.
I love that she found misfits among us and didn’t need to travel to remote locales to photograph children and “others”. We really aren’t very different.
4
Whether you see them as sympathetic or condescending, the fascination with them is carnival geekshow. There’s no doubt that had Arbus not been an apartment store heiress who made a radical career move, no one would be paying attention to these photos or the fetishism around the negs.
1
That is a preposterous claim that indicates no knowledge of the art world or appreciation of the broad range of international photographic practice. Arbus' work would be astonishing and celebrated - perhaps even more - if it's maker was unknown or from humble origins. Witness the story of Brlgitte Maier.
9
Some of these comments seem over the top. To paraphrase what my late friend the artist Ric Jenny once said when we were in grad school (MFA program): "What we say about art tells us more about ourselves than the art or artists."
4
I assisted Mr. Selkirk one day in his studio many years ago. It gives me pleasure that there is a line of connection to Diane's work. I also had the pleasure of learning from Deborah Turbeville who let me attend her "sittings" for magazines when I first arrived in New York. She would introduce me at the shoots as this young guy that "follows her around". She was very generous person and is completely disrespected by art museums, something that needs to be addressed. I read the biography of Diane and Deborah attended her class, they didn't get along. I now do photography shoots in museums. They both were important in my development as an artist.
4
Dian Arbus master photographer, journalist story teller. She was gifted with a unique ability to capture the essense of a person through her lense and give the viewer a unbiased story. I know few photographers with this rare talent.
8
Where is she today. We need her.
6
There is such cruelty in her photos--finding misfits and pinning them like butterflies
6
Cruelty's in the eye of the beholder. Who says they are misfits? Just because they don't look like us or our ideal? Arbus was anything but a misfit as a commercial photographer but she felt like a misfit. We're all misfits, really. That's us in those photographs.
6
Read her new biography, you may think differently--Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer – Arthur Lubow, publ. ECCO 2017.
She claimed in an interview published in a monograph back in the 70s that she saw photography as a "license"- her word - to look at and photograph these people.
Jim Estrin is a visual treasurer hunter who keeps extracting gold.
2
Few artists, very, very few artists have looked at human misery, human stupidity, human self-delusion, human pettiness and human pain with such abrasive truthfulness.
She went to the mind's sewers, and she blasted them open.
We would need her today. So much.
13
The truthfulness in her pictures is not "abrasive". It's uninhibited, clear eyed and poignant. It may be painful to bear and one me feel abraided but it's not the fault of the truthfulness.
4