Analysis of Diane Arbus Photographs - Coursework Example

DIANE ARBUS Introduction Diane Arbus is one of the most respected photographers in the history of photography. She is the first American photographer whose work was displayed at the Venice Biennale and she remains an inspiration for many because of her photography of the abnormal. Also known as the photographer of freaks, Arbus used deviant people as the subjects of her photography. These subjects included dwarfs, circus performances, nudists etc. While being a photographer, Arbus was also a writer whose works appeared in notable magazines that include Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and New York. This eccentric photographer took her own life by slashing her wrists with a razor blade and ingesting drugs. Her depression was quite obvious to her also and the people around her and seems to have been inherited from her mother. In this paper, we will look into the life and work of Diane Arbus with particular reference to some of her most respected photographs. The aim of this paper is to understand the style of Arbus and to study her work in great detail. Personal Life and Career Growth Diane Arbus came from a rich family that had an inclination towards art. Her father became a painter after his retirement; her sister was a designer and a sculpture while Diane’s brother was a sculptor. Even Diane’s husband, Allan Airbus had a love for photography which both the couple explored in great detail. It was with her husband Allan that Diane entered the world of commercial photography. With Diane as the art director and Allan as the photographer, both couples worked freelance for a number of magazines that included Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen, Vogue etc. However, Diane quit the world of commercial photography and explored a more artistic version of her photographic talents. Soon, Arbus began exploring a more offbeat subject that included subjects that were not traditionally considered to be worth photographing. However, Airbus took them on and established herself as a leading photographer in the 1960s with numerous contributions to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Diane’s Arbus’s Style Diane Arbus is popularly known among the art world for her photographs of freaks. While Diane did not want to be labeled as a photograph of freaks, she got this title as most of her subjects had an abnormality amongst themselves; it could be either physical or emotional. Arbus brought to the world of photography something what other photographers chose to ignore. Her subjects were not beautiful creations of God but people who were ignored by the society at large. In all of her photographs, Diane Arbus managed to convey a tragic feel to her characters. All her subject had a tragic air about them that was apparent even while they were smiling. This perhaps stemmed from Diane’s own depression that eventually led her to commit suicide. Another aspect that we often find in Arbus’s photographs is the fact that the subjects look directly at the camera and thus the viewers. This seems to disturb the viewers with their disturbing gaze. Their direct view at the readers seems to show a confidence in the subjects that may not present in them in their real life. They seem to be demanding that the viewers take in their abnormality and accept it, rather than ignore it as society often does. Diane Arbus is also noted for her black and white photography. She chose to ignore colors in the photography and presented her pictures in a stark contrast. This was probably done to keep the focus on the subject. Also Arbus’s usually took square photographs. Her Works In this section, we would be exploring certain popular photographs of Diane Arbus and commenting on them. Child with Hand Grenade in Central Park This picture by Diane Arbus was taken in the Central Park in New York City in 1962. It shows the picture of a boy holding a hand grenade in his right hand while the left hand takes up a claw-like gesture that seems to be holding onto a piece of imaginary flesh. The boy seems to be in a fit of anger and his facial expressions report the rage. The tension in the body also reflects on the rage of the boy. The apparent innocence of the child contradicts with his gesture. There is awkwardness in the photo that is reflected through the hanging of the left strap of the jumper from the shoulder. The boy seems not to be aware of himself or his surroundings and is immersed in his raw emotions that also give off a comical feel. This photo reflects on the style of Arbus in the emotions that the boy shows. While the boy in the photo is not a freak as Arbus’s usual subjects but his emotions border the freakish side. Another signature style of Arbus that is apparent in the picture is that the subject looks directly at the camera as if presenting his reality to the world that often chooses to ignore the abnormal. In this picture, Arbus took the son of tennis player, Sidney Wood to be the main subject of her photograph. The expressions seems to be real as Arbus took her time while photographing the boy from all angles and exasperating him into taking on this expression that showed part rage and part comic. This picture has been used by SNFU in their album And No One Else Wanted to Play that gave a message of non-violence. A Naked Man Being a Woman Yet another black and white photograph by Diane Arbus, this one depicts a male trying to pose as a female. This picture belonged to a series of photographs done by Arbus in 1968 where she showed both men and women in different stages of dressing. What is peculiar about the photograph is that the man is trying hard to pose as a woman. He has put on heavy makeup and combed his hair back to give a feminine expression while his psyche is obviously male. Additionally, he tries to hide his penis between his legs, his most obvious male part. His body is shaved to show sexuality. The man is proud to display his sexuality in front of the camera even when he does not want to display the fact that he is a man. In this picture, the man stands between the curtains giving an impression of a theatre performance. His posture also shows that the man knows he is one display. The man stands on the edge of his living room and his bedroom showing a divide between the public and private sphere of the man. The private sphere is the bedroom while the living room is obviously the public sphere. The man is in the in-between stage and this is depicted in the way he stands in both the rooms while not being present in any of them. Even in this picture, the subject looks directly at the camera. He seems to be aware that the public would judge him for his bi-sexuality but he does not fear that (Dauphin, 7). Mexican Dwarf in his Hotel Room in NYC In this photograph, Arbus shot a Mexican dwarf, Lauro Morales in his hotel room. This is yet another picture of Diane Arbus where she took a deviant as her subject for a black and white square photograph. The dwarf in the picture both compels and disgusts the viewer at the same time. He seems to be satisfied with his abnormality and does not take it as something to be ashamed of. This is obvious in the way he looks directly at the camera with a level gaze and a small smile, asking the view to also accept his abnormality in the same way that he has done it (Gibson and Arbus, 131). While the man is naked, Arbus has been able to remove the attention from his nudity by putting a towel on his private parts. This draws more attention to his stubby fingers and the toes that peeks beneath the towel. Critical Reaction The major criticism that Arbus received for her work was the fact that her pictures failed to get an emotional reaction from his viewers. Though, the viewers could have gotten emotional about the subjects, Arbus presented them in a way that they seemed removed from the picture even when they looked directly at the camera. Also there was no beauty in the photographs of Diane Arbus (Schjeldahl, 1). Others commented that Arbus changed the way one looked at pictures. She changed the meaning of art by presenting such different faces with her work. Whatever, the reaction against Arbus, she is generally considered to be revolutionary and controversial in the field of photography. Her photographs inspire curiosity among the viewers and disturb them with their plain show of the abnormality (Johnson, 1). Conclusion Diane Arbus is one of the most acclaimed photographers in the United States because she dared to photograph a subject that others chose to ignore. She left commercial photography at the peak of her career to go into artistic photography as a way of expressing her individual self. Arbus had a particular style in her photography that later became her signature style. She took black and white photographs on a square frame of subjects that most people who never choose to photograph. And even while photographing them, she made them confident in their abnormality in such a way that they looked directly at the camera, asking the viewers to understand their abnormality. Even though the subjects roused sympathy but their expression was such that the viewer wonders whether these people know if they are abnormal and freakish. Diane Arbus has been criticized for the use of her subjects and the way she presented these subjects as ugly beings in the normal world. However, she introduced a revolutionary form of photography that inspired many others to look for the ugly. References Dauphin, Mirja, The Presentation of Gender in Diane Arbus ́s Work in the Context of the Cold War Era, Germany: GRIN Verlag, 2009, Print Gibson, Gregory and Arbus, Diane, Huberts Freaks: The Rare-Book Dealer, The Times Square Talker, and the Lost Photos of Diane Arbu, UK: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008, Print  Johnson, Ken, Art in Review; Diane Arbus, New York Times, 2005, Retrieved from http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E06E6DA1330F933A0575AC0A9639C8B63 Schjeldahl, Peter, Looking Back: Diane Arbus at the Met, The New Yorker, 2005, Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/03/21/050321craw_artworld?currentPage=all Read More