Book Of The Month October, 2006
Diane ArbusPatricia Bosworth
Diane Arbus’s startling photographic images of dwarfs, twins, transvestites, and freaks seemed from the first to redefine both the normal and the abnormal in our lives; they were already becoming part of the iconography of the age when Arbus committed suicide in 1971. Arbus herself remained an enigma until the publication of this first full biography. Patricia Bosworth examines the life behind the eerie, mesmerizing photographs: Diane’s pampered childhood; her passionate marriage to Allan Arbus and their work together as fashion photographers during the fifties; the emotional upheaval surrounding the end of that marriage; and the radically dark, liberating, and ultimately tragic turn Diane’s art took during the sixties. Bosworth’s engrossing book is a compassionate portrait of the woman behind some of the most powerful photographs of our time.
What We Think
The Random House Group Marketing on Diane Arbus:
In 1971, aged 48, Diane Arbus committed suicide. Until that point, she had carved a fascinating career and reputation with her startling photographic images of dwarfs, transvestites and freaks. This revealing biography by Patricia Bosworth who once modelled for Arbus tells of her strained relationship with her parents, her passionate marriage to fellow photographer Allan Arbus, and the depression that eventually led to her suicide. Until recently, Arbus had remained an enigma – finally Bosworth tells the life story of the woman behind the lens.
‘Fascinating … a compelling biography … valuable in its insights into the cultural history of the 50s and 60s as well as its understanding of the special place Arbus occupies in it.’
Washington Post