Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus

Born Diane Nemerov in New York city Diane Arbus grew up in a rich jewish family. At the age of 14 she met and fell in love with Allan Arbus; marrying him at the age of 18.

While Allan was training as a photographer for the U.S Army he shared his lessons with his wife, Diane. With thier skills the couple became very popular in the fashion indusry; Allan taking the photograhs and Diane styling the shoots. Diane took more formal photography lessons with Lisette Model and the New School in New York and soon landed a job as a photojournalist. In her earlyer work she shot with a 35mm camera but soon adopted a Rolleiflex medium format twin-lens reflex.

By 1963 after three years of extensive photojournaling and her photographs getting in some popular magazines (Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Harper's Bazaar, and Sunday Times Magazine) she recived a guggenheim Fellow grant to she could take time off work and focus on her art photography. She also taught photography at Parsons School of Design, NYC and Hampshire College, Massachusetts.

In July of 1971 Diane Arbus commited suicide at the age of 48. She overdosed on Barbiturates and slit her wrists.

Her photography is about individuality. She liked shooting the outsiders. Transvestites, dwarvs, giants, prostitutes or "ordinary people in disturbing settings" or poses are not out of the "norm" in her images.