The black and white family portrait is of a young couple with their two children baby Dawn and Richard Jr who is mentally disabled. The mother Marilyn  has a resemblance to Elizabeth Taylor and the father Richard has a resemblance to James dean. They are from the Bronx, Brooklyn on their way out on a Sunday where Diane Arbus photographed them.  Discovering about Diane Arbus, she was known for her photographs of freaks. These included Transvestites, dwarfs, nudists and many others who belonged to this outcast society. From Diane Arbus’s view as a photographer to take photos of those to be recognised for who they were rather than what they were. She wanted to give them an identity. Diane was given permission to take photos of her subjects in their homes, bedrooms and work environments. Could Diane relate to them and have a sense of understanding? Diane was criticized for her work by a popular author and writer Susan Sontag. She argued that Diane was exploiting these freaks, taking their photos as if there was nothing wrong with them. I am going to raise an argument drawing information from my sources that I have used so far to discuss whether Diane was photographing freaks for as part of art or exploiting them?

Begin by Susan Sontag. Susan Sontag was an author and writer in her own right. She hit out against Arbus for her work. Sontag wrote her own book called  Sontag.S, S.S,1977, Photography by Susan Sontag, New York: Anchor Books, this is one of the sources of I drew most of my research from. This is what I read on page 176.

“Arbus’s interest in freaks expresses a desire to violate her own innocence,” Sontag wrote. That’s probably right, but it’s incidental to photographs that transcend the interest and desire of their maker and, in the process, shatter the idea of “freaks” as a stable category of experience. “In photographing dwarfs, you don’t get majesty and beauty,” she insisted. “You get dwarfs.” She noted that in Arbus’s pictures, people who are “pathetic, pitiable, as well as repulsive” look “cheerful, self-accepting, matter-of-fact.” She wondered and stated“Do they know how grotesque they are? It seems as if they dont.” They “appear not to know that they are ugly.” This proves that Sontag not only had a strong opinion against Diane but also the people she photographed. She did not see Diane’s work as art but using the words as repulsive, grotesque on Diane’s subjects.

Reading the following sources:

Arbus, D, 1972, Diane Arbus: Aperture Monograph, New York

Cape,J, 2003,Diane Arbus : Revelations, London: Random House

It mentions Diane’s views and she talks about her reasons for photographing freaks. The following quotes were from Diane Arbus herself from her journal.

“Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot. It was one of the first things I photographed and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them. I don’t quite mean they’re my best friends but they made me feel a mixture of shame and awe.” Diane Arbus, 1971 : Arbus, D, 1972, Diane Arbus: Aperture Monograph, New York pp 176

From her statement you can see the admiration she had for them. “I adore them”. This is simply self-explanatory how Diane felt towards her subjects. This could  link into the fact that she took photos of her subjects in their personal environment, For example.

Photo opposite is from the source : Cape,J, 2003,Diane Arbus : Revelations, London: Random House.

It is the other photo of the young Brooklyn family which I am studying but this time the photo was taken in their home. Proving how Diane was let into their personal environment.

“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, pp 187, et al

Another statement from Diane. Comparing the freaks to being aristocrats, Reading her thoughts against her subjects it seems that Diane had an understanding and a connection with her subjects.

“I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn’t photograph them.” Diane Arbus: Revelations, pp 145

Summarizing from both sources, I can see that Susan Sontag had a critical view against Diane because she was photographing what Sontag referred to as “grotesque” and “ugly” photos that seemed to be exploiting them rather than being from a photography point of view.  Sontag expressed that Diane only photographed people who were pathetic and repulsive not making it real photography. From Diane’s point of view she had what seems to be a genuine admiration for her subjects. “I adore them”, she said, she referred to them as aristocrats. This could possibly be portrayed in the photo she has taken above of the Brooklyn family. This photo demonstrates the relationship she has with her subjects,they let her into their homes and take photos of them. It appears that Diane did have a genuine approach to this type of society that allowed her to communicate with the outside world. As many saw Diane’s work as a way of exploiting people who were less fortunate Diane wanted to get to know this type of society, to visit them, understand them, and then take a portrait of them as could be seen as memories for Diane.

Arbus. D, DA, 1972, Diane Arbus: An Apeture Monograph, New York: Millerton

Cape. J , 2003, Diane Arbus: Revelations: London: Random House

Monteith S., 2008, American Culture in the 1960′s, Edinburgh University Press

Sontag.S, S.S,1977, Photography by Susan Sontag, New York: Anchor Books

Arbus.D, Cumo Y.1995, Diane Arbus: Untitled, New York: Tyhmer and Hudson LTD

Reference: Web

http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=97050&searchid=12189&tabview=subject (Accessed 21st 0ct 2009)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/arts/design/11kimm.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2
(Accessed 22nd Oct)

http://www.sixties60s.com/1966.htm (accessed 26th oct)

ttp://library.thinkquest.org/27629/themes/media/md60s.html
Accessed 26th oct

www.ph.utexas.edu/~yue/misc/LeicaIII.jpg accessed 9th nov

http://licm.org.uk/livingImage/Leica_II.html (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

http://photo.net/equipment/mamiya/tlr (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/arbus_jewish_giant_full.html (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138350/bio (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

www.sudsandsoda.com/notes/arbus.jpg (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

Reference: Visual Image, Video, Film

Steven Shainberg, 2007, Edward Pressman Film, Fur: An Imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus

As I begin to grasp an idea about who the family was and why Diane took their portrait. She wanted a photo to represent that this family is getting on with their lives like any other normal family despite their sons condition. I began to realise the Diane took a variety of portraits of families that soon was going to be her next project. A family Album. The most valuable resource to me so far has been “Cape J., 2003, Diane Arbus: Revelations, London Random House“. This was the book I discovered the other photo of the Dauria Family. A different photo of them this time. It has been reliable because everything I wanted to know was in this huge book about Diane and her work. I did use other references to see if it was reliable and most of time it matched with the other sources. I wanted to know what was culture like in the 60s when the photo was taken. What events took place that may have an effect or influence on American society? I soon read the book Monteith S., 2008, American Culture in the 1960′s, Edinburgh University Press which gave me a general knowledge about the political events that took place through the 60s. The 60s was occupied by political movements that changed the status of social change dramatically. This gave me an understanding of the time the photo was taken in. Diane took many family portraits, it wa soon after I found out that she was working towards a project. A project she named “A family Album”.This album consisted of various encounters of the word “family”. From children to mothers and fathers. This inspired me to go out and take photos of my own  that related to the theme of family. Experimenting with my camera I soon found out from various sources what kind of camera Diane Arbus used. She used a Rolliflex and Mamiya c330 that both have a twin reflect lens. These cameras gave the effect Diane wanted to use for her photography.

I read many of Diane’s books and these were the following:

Cape. J , 2003, Diane Arbus: Revelations: London: Random House”

Arbus. D, DA, 1972, Diane Arbus: An Apeture Monograph, New York: Millerton

Y.Cumo, 1995, Diane Arbus: Untitled, New York: Thames and Hudson LTD

From this following book Cape. J , 2003, Diane Arbus: Revelations: London: Random House

What I found was another photo of the young Brooklyn family, but this time not on the streets but inside their home. I did research hard to find information about why the family invited Diane back to their home after having their picture taken on the streets, however did not manage to find anything due to time and the flow of resources kept coming to a dead end.As a photographer Diane had the ability to get so close to her subjects. She was let into their homes, their bedrooms, their work environments. I used several quotes from Diane Arbus who discuss how she understood their point of view. She called them “Aristocrats“, from the book Diane Arbus: Revelations. I never did get a chance to find out from her subjects point of view, why did they let her take a photo of them in their personal environment? It seems as if it was a mystery. I then came across information on the wesbite www.imdb.com, film web that they made a film about Diane Arbus’s life. I managed to get a copy of the film called “Fur: An imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus”. This was not a reliable source down to the actual fact that the story was entirely fictional. The only true facts was her interaction and fascination in photographing freaks.

I wanted to explore whether Diane caused controversy and receive bad critical reviews. One women names Susan Sontag who was a writer and author publicly attack Diane for exploiting the lives of freaks. The author did not like her work and branded her as a fraud. It was interesting to hear the critical reviews of the highly renowned photographer. Susan Sontag raised the question of , what gives her the right to photograph them? This does make me question, because she holds a camera,it gives her the right to expose people’s insecurities? Then again, if they were insecure would they have their picture taken? “There many things people would not see if I  did not photograph them”: Diane Arbus. This quote is supported by the documentary I watched called Master of Photography by Doon Arbus. There is a narration from Diane Arbus’s journal quoting about her subjects “Photographing freaks was kind of exciting for me, I adore them, D. Arbus: Monograph, 1972,pp 127″. She refers them to as “Aristocrats” and a type of “legend”: Diane Arbus, et al. Diane Arbus became a renowned photographer. She branched out and made a mark in the art world which she will always be remembered for. She sadly committed suicide in 1971. Since then all her photographs have been turned into various book memoirs.

imap

I was very excited to watch this film. A brief synopsis of the film:

It is based in New York City, the upper class Diane Arbus (played by Nicole Kidman)is a frustrated and lonely woman who is married and has two children. Her husband is a photographer who works alongside Diane’s wealthy parents and she works as an assistant. A man named Lionel Sweeney,( played by Robert Downey Jr,) a mysterious man, moves in upstairs. Diane becomes intrigued in finding out who that person is. Lionel has hypertrichosis ( a disease that causes excessive body hair), After meeting Diane, she begins to  feel a great attraction for him and is introduced to the world of freaks alongside falling in love with Lionel. The story begins to unveil how Diane begins to explore the world of photography and finding the identities of the outcasts in society.

The opening scene we see Diane visiting a nudist camp. She appears shy and timid. The nudists tell her, that the rule is, if she wants to take photos of them then she has to be prepared to be nude too. This startled Diane.

The flashes back to her past where her life began. Married and with two children. We see Diane in a world of fashion,  fake smiles, wealth and a sense of snobbishness. This was Diane’s life. We see her working as a fashion assistant with her husband, she does not appear to be happy with the life she has. It then starts to get exciting when Lionel Sweeney moves in to the upstairs flat. Diane sees him all masked up. Diane then became fascinated with him that she went to his flat and introduced herself . The film does not start picking up until she starts building a relationship with Lionel. A man who is suffering from hypertrichosis. Diane takes time out from her fashion photography and starts to concentrate on portraits of her own. Lionel introduces her to the world of freaks.

The relationship between Diane and Lionel was like “Beauty and the Beast”, a bond between them. They seemed to have an understanding and the same outlook.  However, Diane begins an affair but ends shortly because Lionel is dying.

We then go back to the opening scene, Diane walking across the lawn in the nude and sits on a bench next to a women.

Women: Are you going to take a picture of me?

Diane: No, not yet, Why don’t we begin with, you telling me a secret.

Women: Why don’t you go first?

Diane: Ok.

When Diane, went to take photos of her subject, would she build a friendship with them first? blend in to be like one of them before she took their photo? This would make sense, would it not?

The director Steven Shainberg based the plot line on  nothing substantially true. “Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus” was not an amazing movie, actually a bizarre romance with characters that recall to the “The Beauty and the Beast”.  The film is obviously a work of love and one that honors the life of Diane Arbus, even though we are not given much true information about the woman. It was interesting to watch but my excitement did start to die down as the film went on. Diane Arbus one of the most influential and original American photographers of the 20th century. What effect did she have on the photography world? Did she influence other fellow photographers to branch out from their box?

]]> http://rebeccaioannoucpm.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/fur-an-imaginary-portrait-of-diane-arbus/feed/ 0 rebeccaioannoucpm fur 2 fur 1 fur 4 http://rebeccaioannoucpm.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/a-photograph-is-a-secret-about-a-secret/ http://rebeccaioannoucpm.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/a-photograph-is-a-secret-about-a-secret/#comments Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:20:37 +0000 rebeccaioannoucpm http://rebeccaioannoucpm.wordpress.com/?p=129 ]]> One of Diane Arbus’s famous quotes is:

“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know. ” Diane Arbus, Five photographs, Artforum, May 1971, et al

Diane was made famous for her shockingly tasteful photography.

To my surprise I have found out from the world-wide film website  http://www.imdb.com/ there has been a film made about Diane Arbus’s life.   Diane Arbus is being played by the highly acclaimed actress Nicole Kidman.

The film is called, “Fur: An Imaginary portrait of Diane Arbus, 2007″. Starring Robert Downey Jr and Ty Burrell. It is directed by Steven Shainburg. The link below is a trailer to the film.

Fur trailer

Watching the trailer has made me curious how “Hollywood” have interpreted Diane Arbus’s life. Next step is to watch the film to see if I can get a insight to how Diane Arbus’s life was like.

Dear Study Diary,

I knew nothing about the photographer Diane Arbus. Currently been reading  Jonathon Cape,  JC, 2003, Diane Arbus: Revelations, London: Random House to gain information about Diane Arbus and become familiar with her work. This is my first time blogging which I have found it be interesting but a little tedious at times, however this has not stopped me from achieving the goals I want to achieve with this blog.

Diane Arbus was  a famous New York photographer that took black and white portraits. She liked to take photos of individuals who were branded as the  freakish community.  These were known as “The freaks”. Diane would take photos of Dwarfs, transvestites, and nudists.  She had a curiosity for this type of society. She branded them as “legends”. What I found to be interesting about her work was the intimacy she managed to get so close with her subjects. She would photograph them in their homes, bedrooms and work environments. This is very interesting to analyze. With the “A young Brooklyn family going for a Sunday outing” photo I am studying,  I managed to research and found out the identity of this family from variable sources.  They were called the Dauria Family.  Both parents have resemblance to film stars Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. I began to broaden my research by branching off into culture and politics at the time of 1966.

My Main achievements so far… has been the fact that I am learning a new subject and exploring all research routes. I now know who a renowned photographer in the 60s. I have managed to do 4 blogs with a continuous work flow of research. It has been difficult due to the fact of not knowing where to go next with your information. I have also distinguished that I do not work well in the Library. I tried really hard to concentrate but just could not. I work best when I am in my own environment. Hopefully continue to do so. A positive start.

2nd November 2009

I have not kept up to date with my blogging as much. It started has started to slow down with the research. I have been trying my hardest to find primary sources and get as many books from the library. I am currently reading, Cape.J,2003, Diane Arbus: Revelations, London: Random House. It is a very huge book to read so hopefully I will be able to get some juicy information from that. I am starting to find it tricky due to the fact of not knowing where to branch off to without going off the topic too much. I seem to  find myself  to be using a variety of web sources .  I did not manage to find more information of the family but have started to explore more in-depth grounds on Diane Arbus, I have started to research in to the type of camera she would use and so forth. Still find that I am pushing myself to work during the day because that is when I work my best. I do start to lose concentration  towards the night and do not produce the best of my work.

My feelings towards my study, is neutral, I do not love it but I do not hate it. It has been very interesting in learning about a photographer from the 60s. My setbacks: Is my dedication towards the blog, I feel I am not producing work to the best of my ability, and losing the faith of whether I can produce a well researched, thought out blog. I feel I need to invest more time in finding other resources. Expanding on the knowledge I am learning. The deadline is coming close so I am going to try my hardest.

9th November 2009

Coming to an end of my research and I must say is coming to a difficult stage, the end. Trying to find all my research and convert into an information map and sum up all my conclusions. Finalizing your work and making it look presentable. The deadline is this Wednesday and I feel I should have put in extra effort into developing a good decent, blog. I feel I have achieved a good amount of research findings. Some of the sources I have drawn from have been reliable such as the Books from the Library which are quoted in my Bibliography. One even written by the daughter of Diane Arbus. My blog is starting to take form, looking presentable and more importantly Harvard referencing. At the beginning, I was a little lenient about the term referencing,  but now I have learnt how to include page numbers and remember to write which day you accessed when using web sources.

I have learnt a wide range of skills from . At first, I was not aware with the term Harvard referencing, learnt how to cross-reference and to maintain the flow of research so there is a flow of a research process. I have never blogged before and it has been a creative journey. I do wish I would have invested more time into my work to get the most out of my work. This has been an important lesson learnt. “The more you work you put in, the more work you will get out”.

THE FINAL MOMENTS: 11TH Nov, 2009

This is my last entry for my blog. Rushing to get the finishing touches on it. Making sure I have included everything set in my module. Hoping whether if its good enough, if I should have included more information, thinking whether I should have done more research, spent more time.  Overall, the skills and the knowledge I have picked up from the research have been intense. As for my first assignment, you always learn from your mistakes. It has been interesting and a good experience, I can understand why people blog, a sufficent way of keeping track of your thoughts and research process in a contunious flow.

She wrote essays for the literary publications all over the world, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The New York Review of Books. Her position reflects her as a respected figure at that time. She was the cent re point of the media world which she had the opportunity to get people to listen to what she had to say.

I discovered that Sontag wrote a book about photography.

This was where Diane received most of her criticism. Susan writes in her book: Susan Sontag, S.S,1977, Photography by Susan Sontag, New York: Anchor Books

“Diane Arbus is an auteur in the most limiting sense. She did not, like the most ambitious photographers, play the field of subject matter even a little. On the contrary, all her subjects are equivalent. And making equivalence between freaks, mad people, suburban couples and nudists is a powerful judgment, one in complicity with a recognisable political mood shared by many educated left liberal Americans. The subjects of Arbus’s photographs are all members of the same family; the inhabitants of one, single village. Only, as it happens, the idiot village is America. Instead of showing identity between things which are different, everybody is shown to look the same.” page 132

This is was an attack on Diane.Diane Arbus was  going in to these areas and photographing freaks. You would have this incredible balanced power position between the photographers and those people who she’s photographing. and Sontag quotes,“do these people know exactly how they’re being represented? And the answer to that, of course, is no”, Susan Sontag. page 176.

It seems that Susan was against Diane’s way of work. It’s as if she wanted to bring her down from the hype and recognition for her work. “Arbus’s interest in freaks expresses a desire to violate her own innocence,” Sontag wrote. That’s probably right, but it’s incidental to photographs that transcend the interest and desire of their maker and, in the process, shatter the idea of “freaks” as a stable category of experience. “In photographing dwarfs, you don’t get majesty and beauty,” she insisted. “You get dwarfs.” She noted that in Arbus’s pictures, people who are “pathetic, pitiable, as well as repulsive” look “cheerful, self-accepting, matter-of-fact.” She wondered, “Do they know how grotesque they are? It seems as if they don’t.” They “appear not to know that they are ugly.”

Here, It seems that Susan had a very strong opinion against people who were different. Using the terms such as grotesque and ugly. These are harsh words to use against someone who cannot help the way they look. It comes across from the source, her won books that she wrote about not only did she have a problem with the way Diane photographed but  also had a problem with society that were branded as outcasts and freaks.Could she have used Diane as a scapegoat and a cover up to how she really felt towards Diane’s subjects “the freaks.”

http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2005-01/arbus.htm

It has been read that Arbus did receive much acclaimed criticism in exploiting her subjects as a kind of “Freak show” and as a fair ground to the real world. She had no relation to her subjects, and accused Diane using her status as a photographer to reel her way into certain individuals homes.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arbus.html

The above resource  documents that a women named Susan Sontag launched an attack on Diane and her work.

Apparently she published essays showing her repulsion for Arbus.

“Arbus is the worst kind of perpetrators of fraud: unhistorical, unpolitical, unrealistic portraits”.

The above quote was by Susan Sontag. I am intrigued to find out Who was Susan Sontag? Did she work in the media industry? Did this effect Diane’s reputation?

“How did she manage to convince her subjects to take photos of them in their private and personal space?”.

From my personal experience of taking photos of people on the streets, I felt I was intruding on their lives, but at the same time exciting.

But for Diane, she was accepted into their homes, their bedrooms and work environments.  She photographed dwarfs, nudists, transvestites, twins and every other freak. In the 60s you were branded as an outcast from society if you fell in to that category. So going with the notion of being branded by a society. Did they not feel intimidated by Diane and her camera?

The visual photos below demonstrate the trust they had for Diane.

“A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y.
(1970)”

http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/arbus_jewish_giant_full.html (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

This above Jewish giant went by the name of “Eddie Carmel”, he was a entertainer exploiting his own freakishness standing high at 8ft 9in. From the link : http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0138350/bio (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

“Eddie Carmel is probably best known from the photograph “Jewish Giant At Home With His Parents”, by Diane Arbus.” unknown source

“A Husband and Wife in the Woods at a Nudist Camp, N.J. (1963)”

www.sudsandsoda.com/notes/arbus.jpg (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

“A topless dancer in her dressing room, San Francisco, CA, 1968″

http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425960356/143300/diane-arbus-topless-dancer-in-her-dressing-room-san-francisco-ca.html (Accessed Nov 9th 2009)

Below Diane Arbus lays her point of view  towards her subjects, this quote is from Jonathan Cape, 2003, Diane Arbus: Revelations, London: Random House, page 175

“Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot,” she wrote. “It was one of the first things I photographed and it had a terrific kind of excitement for me. I just used to adore them. I still do adore some of them. I don’t quite mean they’re my best friends but they made me feel a mixture of shame and awe. There’s a quality of legend about freaks. Like a person in a fairy tale who stops you and demands that you answer a riddle. 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

From here we can get a sense of connection Diane had with the individuals she photographed. “It had a terrific kind of excitement for me”. This shows her enthusiasm for what she loved  to photograph. She felt it was her duty to let the world know about these type of society that were branded as outcasts, freaks and did not fit in to the type of culture at that time.

“They’ve past their test in life. They’re Aristocrats. Diane Arbus: Revelations, 2003. This particular quote I read was also in the Book I have been reading lately.  “They’re Aristocrats”, what Diane was trying to get across that they are the elite. How could a group of people be called the elite if they have been outcast by society?

Because they have past their test in life as Diane put it. They were born for their individuality that Diane felt people needed to see and know about. Referring back to her previous quote:

“No one would see the things I see, if I did not photograph them”- Diane Arbus, 1963: et al

I wonder if anyone was against Diane Arbus or received an attack of criticism for the type of work she did? Did anyone think Diane was taking advantage of her subjects vulnerability?

]]> http://rebeccaioannoucpm.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/we-trust-you-diane/feed/ 0 rebeccaioannoucpm di 1 di 2 di 3 p3