“Most people go through life dreading they'll have a
traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They've already
passed their test in life. They're aristocrats.”
-Diane Arbus
For
me, the mark of a true artist is when you see their work you become motivated
to find out more about the artist rather then simply admiring the finished
product. I feel that knowing the story behind the art is just as important as
the final piece of work. This is why I find Diane Arbus so intriguing.
When
I look at Diane’s work several points always come to my mind. Why do I find
this photo interesting? Is it the subjects? The composition? Or is it something
deeper? When I look at her work I want to know “what were the circumstances
that led up to the moment when the shutter fired”. How did she find herself in
front of her subject, in that setting? Her intimacy was ground breaking. These
are not photos taken from an arbitrary vantage point, these are photos that are
both voyeuristic and intimate at the same time. Diane did not just take these
pictures, she included the subject in the creative process. Diane focused not
on the beauty of her subjects but on the flaws.
In
the following part of this essay I would like to introduce some of Diane’s
artwork and why I find them interesting.
Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967
In the photo Identical
Twins we find two twin sisters,
Cathleen and Colleen Wade, standing side by side in matching corduroy dresses,
white tights, and white headbands in their dark hair. Both stare into the
camera, one slightly smiles and the other slightly frowns.
The twins were seven years old when Arbus spotted
them at a Christmas party for twins and triplets. The twins' father once said
about the photo, "We thought it was the worst likeness of the twins we'd
ever seen." Biographer Patricia Bosworth said, "She (Arbus)
was involved in the question of identity. Who am I and who are you? The twin
image expresses the crux of that vision: normality in freakishness and the
freakishness in normality."
I find this photo instantly interesting. I like
how the bricks intersecting the wall is a little asqueue, adding an
uncomfortable composition. It would have bee easy to square it off adding to
the uniformity of the subjects. I also love how Diane had one smile and one
frown giving a certain duality to the girls. I also like the proximity of the
two girls to each other causing the illusion that they both share the arm
inbetween them. This photo has a
haunting allure for me.
Child with Toy Hand Grenade in Central
Park
New York City (1962)
The photo shows a boy, with the left strap of his
jumper awkwardly hanging off his shoulder, tensely holding his long, thin arms
by his side. Clenched in his right hand is a toy grenade, and his left hand is
held in a claw-like gesture; his facial expression is maniacal.
When reading about this photo it was cited that
when Arbus was trying to get the right angle she was walking around the boy. In
the picture the young boy seems to be saying, “C’mon already and take the
picture!”. In other photos of the boy from the contact sheet he can be seen as
a happy child.
There is so much going on in this photograph. I
like the couple walking to the right of the frame and how the lines of the path
lead your eye to the main subject. I like how the skinny and twisted frame of
the young boy is contrasted by the symbolism of the hand granade. I like how
the main subject is in the immediate foreground of the frame conveying a very
in-your-face attitude for the photo.
In conclusion, this is just a taste of what Diane
Arbus’ work means to me. Everytime I see one her works it inspires me to not
only take better pictures but to take the time to notice the atributes of not
only a person’s physiology but their story behind their form that makes the
person unique.
Diane Arbus Double
Self-Portrait With Infant Daughter, Doon, 1945
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| Identical twins: Now and then. |
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