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The Fascinating Life Work of Diane Arbus Essay

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The fascinating life work of Diane Arbus Diane Nemorev was born on March 14, 1923 in New York City, NY, and grew up in Central Park West, NY. She was the child of wealthy Jewish parents but was mainly raised by several governesses. Because of that, she did not have a good relationship with her parents and often felt alone. Diane felt unreality in her life. When Diane learned new things, she had the feeling she couldn’t experience it. As a child she painted at school. Diane hated painting and when she graduated from High School, she stopped immediately. Painting made her feel shaky, because Arbus hated the smell of paint and the noise of the brush on the paper. People would say Diane was terrific at it, but she felt as if something …show more content…

Arbus was also one of the first photographers to combine daylight with a flash. She started photographing freaks and eccentrics, including transvestites, people with mental disabilities, dwarves, etc., but also nudists and ordinary people. Diane would go to the park or in the streets and walk up to people to speak with them and take their portrait. She would also go to their homes to photograph them. She loved these people and would approach them with respect. When Arbus would photograph a freak she would get a mixture of shame and strangeness. She didn’t like to photograph people or subjects that are known. Arbus thought people or subjects that are unknown were fascinating, when they are well known she would get blank about them. In 1960 she decided to work as a freelance photographer. She earned her money especially by taking photographs for magazines. She also wrote several articles. Between the period of 1960 and 1971, Diane published more than 250 pictures and more than 70 articles in different magazines. She wrote 18 articles and published 31 pictures in the magazine Esquire. 63 publications and 22 articles in the magazine Harper's Bazaar. And in the late 1960's she wrote and published articles and pictures for the Sunday Times, Niva New Your, Essence, Sports Illustrated, etc. In the late sixties Arbus reached the peak in her carrier, when she got a ‘New Documents’ exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in 1967.

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