ART REVIEWS: Diane Arbus (1923 – 1971), Mother of the New Social Photography

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Diane Arbus Double Self-Portrait With Infant Daughter (1945)

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Diane Arbus (1923 – 1971), cult and pivotal figure of the "new" socio-critical wave of documentary photography in the latter half of the 20th century, developed a very immediate visual language to portray not only people on the outer rim of social acceptability, but also the mask-like comfortably off citizen of the middle classes.

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Masked Woman in a Wheelchair (1970)

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Untitled (1970-1971)

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Lists from a 1959 notebook

From 1955 Arbus studied under Lisette Model, who encouraged her to concentrate on personal shots. From then on her subjects included people both on the street and in their homes, political refugees, midgets, giants, twins, drag artists, nudists and the mentally ill. Her shots of society´s outsiders combine the often dark, disturbing subjects with an objectivity and calm attentiveness that grants the viewer a certain distance to the pictures. Rather than forward any philosophical position in her work, she wished simply to document the world in all its many aces. The result was not pure pictorial documentation, but descriptions of psychological realities that capture more the private than the social context.

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Untitled (1971)

Untitled (1970-1971)

Arbus´ work had a great influence on the international photography scene of her day, an was the object of much discussion. In 1967 she participated in the "New Documents" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1971 she put an end to her life and a year later she was the first woman photographer to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale. That same year the New York Museum of Modern Art staged a large touring exhibition, which attracted over 7 million visitors.

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Tattoed Man at a Carnival (1970)

Untitled (1970-1971)

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(*) Text from: 20th Century Photography (Taschen, Museum Ludwig Cologne 2001)

See more of her works at: http://www.artphotogallery.org/02/artphotogallery/photographers/diane_arbus_17.html

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