Diane Arbus

(b New York, 14 March 1923; d New York, 26 July 1971). American photographer. She was educated at the Ethical Culture School and Fieldston School until 1940. In this year she married Allan Arbus with whom she formed a successful partnership in fashion photography. She studied photography with Alexey Brodovitch c. 1954 and with Lisette Model c. 1955-7. Model encouraged Arbus as an artist and particularly as a maker of powerfully individualistic portraits. In 1963 Arbus visited a nudist camp for the first time. Retired Man and his Wife at Home in a Nudist Camp One Morning, NJ (1963; see Arbus and Israel, 1972, p. 27) juxtaposes the domestic, furnished environment with a middle-aged couple whose only clothing is their footwear, enhancing the overall air of incongruity.

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