Diane Arbus (1923 – 1971)
Diane Arbus is a photographer whose work never fails to capture attention, largely because she focused on photographing what she called “freaks.” Born into a wealthy New York Jewish family, Arbus grew up during the Great Depression. She married her childhood sweetheart at 18 in 1941 and developed a love of photography while working on commercial projects with her husband. However, she quit commercial work in 1956 to pursue her personal style and projects, eventually separating from her husband in 1959.
Arbus’s style was one of connection. She often revisited her subjects over many years, attempting to establish a deeper rapport. Tragically, she committed suicide in 1971, but her profound body of work lives on, and the images she created remain haunting and unforgettable. Few photographers can evoke such a strong and lasting reaction, and Arbus’s work is divisive, evoking both admiration and discomfort. Her subjects are memorable, and while some may see them as voyeuristic, others see them as empathetic.
Arbus herself admitted to a fascination with “freaks,” describing them as subjects that excited her in a way few other things did. She once said:
“Freaks were a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed, and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still adore some of them; I don’t quite mean they’re my best friends, but they made me feel a mixture of shame and awe.”
For Arbus, freaks represented a kind of legend, figures who had already experienced the trauma of life and survived, almost like aristocrats in their own right. This approach raises the question: why did she feel this way? Was it a form of detachment, a position of privilege from which she viewed her subjects?
Susan Sontag, in her seminal essay On Photography, is critical of Arbus’s work. She suggests that Arbus’s personal struggles and eventual suicide validated the idea that her photography wasn’t cold or voyeuristic but sincere and compassionate. While I don’t entirely agree with Sontag’s harsh assessment, I do think there’s more nuance to Arbus’s work than meets the eye.
I find Arbus’s images, such as A Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, New York City (1962), deeply unsettling. The image is ingrained in my memory, not because it is of an average child playing but because the tone and context feel far removed from innocence. Similarly, Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey (1967) evokes a sense of eeriness, reminiscent of scenes from Kubrick’s The Shining. The stiff, almost Victorian poses of many of her subjects feel repetitive, almost cookie-cutter in their approach.
However, some of her works show a gentler side, such as Jewish Giant, Taken at Home with His Parents in the Bronx, New York (1970). In this photograph, the towering giant, though physically imposing, emanates a sense of gentleness as he stands with his parents, creating a moment of empathy.
Arbus’s work has earned its place in photographic history not simply because she was a prominent female photographer of her generation but because her images resonate with so many, even if they aren’t to everyone’s taste. Her photographs may be exploitative in nature, but as I’ve mentioned before, all photographers are, to some extent, exploitative when capturing the lives of others. Arbus used her camera as a license to enter and document her subjects’ lives, and while some might argue that she went too far, I see it as part of her relentless drive to explore the human experience.
Comparing Arbus to modern photographers like Bruce Gilden, one can see similarities in tone: both photographers use a raw, confrontational approach to street photography. However, I find Gilden’s work more engaging on a personal level. While Arbus often relies on surprise to break down her subjects’ guard, Gilden’s ambush style creates a sense of immediate, unfiltered interaction with his subjects.
Despite my reservations, Arbus’s work remains an important reference point in the history of photography, both for its technical mastery and its unsettling portrayal of the human condition.
Bibliography
- WIKIPEDIA. Diane Arbus. [online]. [Accessed 8 Nov 2015]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arbus
- O’HAGEN, Sean. Diane Arbus: Humanist or Voyeur? [online]. [Accessed 08 Nov 2015]. Available from: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jul/26/diane-arbus-photography-sideshow
- KIM, Eric. Eric Kim Photography. [online]. [Accessed 08 Nov 2015]. Available from: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2012/10/15/11-lessons-diane-arbus-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/
- SONTAG, Susan. On Photography. Penguin Modern Classics, 2008.
