Diane Arbus: Magazine Work

by Diane Arbus (Photographer), Thomas W. Southall (Foreword), Doon Arbus (Editor)

Photography's most original artist presents the celebrities of her time in a remarkable collection of portraits. This work reveals the growth of an artist who saw no artificial boundary between art and the paying job and who succeeded in putting her indelible stamp on the visual imagination.

Genres: Photography, Art, Nonfiction, Art and Photography, Picture Books

175 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

People best know portraits of prostitutes, transvestites, persons with physical deformities, and other unconventional subjects of American photographer Diane Arbus.

Diane Arbus noted dwarfs, giants, and ordinary citizens in poses and settings on the fringes of society.

Arbus used 35-mm cameras to create her early work but adopted the Rolleiflex medium format twin-lens reflex before the 1960s. This format provided a square aspect ratio, higher image resolution, and a waist-level viewfinder, not a standard eye, which allowed Arbus to connect in different ways. Arbus also experimented with the use of flashes in daylight, allowing her to highlight and separate from the background.

In July 1971, Arbus ingested a large quantity of barbiturates and then slashed her wrists to commit suicide in Greenwich Village at the age of 48 years.

Reviews

[West Hartford Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of Arbus's photography shot for magazines. The portraits are a nice mix of celebrities and eccentric local characters. Arbus, as always, seems able to capture the personality of her subjects in a single still image. Highlights include Jayne Mansfield, Norman Mailer and Coretta Scott King. Some of the photos are accompanied by the original articles, others stand alone, and there's a nice summary of her career as a magazine photojournalist at the end.

[Asta Schmitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book left me wanting more. I want to see more of Diane Arbus' photography and I also would have liked to get more of a sense of who she was as a person and what drove her. The setup of this book is to show Arbus' magazine work, as a reaction to the posthumous museum exhibition of her photography that became famous and gave a limited impression of her abilities according to the authors.

There's a lot of variation in both style and subject here. That alone makes for an interesting book. Some of Arbus' accompanying articles are also printed; The one on "Tokyo Rose" I liked best. One page and one photo that together pack a punch (on me anyway, I was unfamiliar with the lady's story).

It kept me interested throughout but it did leave me wondering about Arbus' motives. Did she feel affinity for her subjects or was she just a Peeping Tom? (Or did it vary from job to job?) Sometimes she's clearly mocking people, like with the article accompanying the nudist series. She seems to be commenting in words and pictures on what is thought of as normal or abnormal. Then again, her approach may not have been that academic. Where I see people performing masculinity and femininity and normalcy, she may just have seen good material.

[Glenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic collection of Arbus's photography shot for magazines. The portraits are a nice mix of celebrities and eccentric local characters. Arbus, as always, seems able to capture the personality of her subjects in a single still image. Highlights include Jayne Mansfield, Norman Mailer and Coretta Scott King. Some of the photos are accompanied by the original articles, others stand alone, and there's a nice summary of her career as a magazine photojournalist at the end.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Includes some of her writing that was published along with the photos. Interested to see that she was quite a good writer and unusual. What she picked out to explain was unusual, but gives you a very good idea of the subject and of Diane, how she thought, what was interesting to her.

[Suzanne Shumaker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this after I started reading Hubert's Freaks since I was more interested in Diane Arbus and her photography than the actual acquisition of them from a dealer. What a great collection. It also turns out that she was a very entertaining writer. I'm hoping to check out some more of her work.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diane Arbus: Magazine Work by Diane Arbus (Aperature 1985) (770.92). Diane Arbus' work is collected here in a series of portraits from her magazine campaigns. She is adjudged a master! My rating: 7/10, finished 2007.

[Jenny.p · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love her.

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diane Arbus is not my favorite photographer, but man is she talented.

[Tippy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my favorite of the Dian Arbus books. In this one, the text is about the people being photographed as opposed to Diane's biography and the history of how her collection sold. In some cases it told the story of her interactions with different communities. She's definitely a tourist in their lives and it makes me uncomfortable sometimes how she views people. But several of her photographs are fantastic and there are many good ones in here.

[Carrie Ferguson · Rating 5 out of 5]

So inspiring! Photographically and writerly. I had no idea Ms. Arbus was a writer as well. Was thrilled when my Mom gave me this book.