Diane Arbus
**The Art of Photography: A Deep Dive into Diane Arbus and Her Influential Work**
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### Introduction to the Episode and Podcast Award Nomination
In this episode of *The Art of Photography*, host Ted Forbes begins with a heartfelt request. He shares that the podcast has been nominated for the 2013 People's Choice Podcast Awards in the best video category. Forbes emphasizes that this achievement is not solely his own but also a result of the support from viewers like you. He expresses gratitude for your continued engagement and asks for your vote over the next 15 days. You can visit [podcastawards.com](http://podcastawards.com) to cast your ballot in the best video category and show your support for *The Art of Photography*. Your vote means a lot to him and helps keep the podcast going.
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### Diane Arbus: A Photographer Beyond the Ordinary
Ted Forbes then transitions into the main topic of the episode: renowned photographer Diane Arbus. He acknowledges that Arbus is not a typical subject for his show, which often features classically trained photographers with a focus on composition techniques like the rule of thirds. However, he defends her work as groundbreaking and deserving of attention.
Diane Arbus was born in 1923 into a wealthy, upper-class family in New York City. Despite her privileged upbringing, she chose to photograph subjects that were far removed from her own world—subjects like transvestites, people with mental disabilities, nudists, and others often considered "freaks." Her work redefined what beauty could be and challenged the norms of photography.
Arbus’s journey into photography began after she married Allen Arbus, a photographer, in 1941. Together, they opened a studio and achieved success, even having a photograph featured in the *Family of Man* exhibition in the 1950s. However, their relationship eventually dissolved, and Diane left her husband to pursue her own career. Their divorce took over eleven years to finalize, but she emerged as a solo artist with a unique vision.
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### Influences and Inspiration: August Sander
Ted Forbes highlights the influence of German photographer August Sander on Diane Arbus. Sander, known for his portraits of people from various walks of life, particularly those on the fringes of society, was one of the few photographers who inspired Arbus. While their styles differ significantly—Sander was more classically trained and composed—Arbus built upon his foundation to create something entirely her own.
Forbes notes that both photographers redefined what beauty could be. Sander’s work in the 1930s paved the way for Arbus, who took it a step further with her raw and unflinching approach in the 1960s. This lineage of influence is fascinating and underscores how photographers build upon the work of their predecessors.
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### Exploring Diane Arbus's Work
Ted Forbes uses Pinterest to showcase examples of Diane Arbus’s work, which he describes as "freak culture" but with a raw, unapologetic edge. He walks through several iconic images:
1. **The Twins**: One of her most famous shots, this image captures the natural symmetry and bond between identical twins. Forbes points out how this photo inspired the eerie scene in *The Shining*, where two girls approach an elevator.
2. **The Boy with a Grenade**: This disturbing yet powerful photo depicts a boy clenching his fists, one holding what appears to be a grenade. While it may lack the shock value today, it was groundbreaking when first published for its raw and challenging nature.
3. **The Jewish Giant**: Arbus’s portrait of a man with gigantism sitting with his parents highlights her ability to play with proportions and create visual interest through juxtaposition. This image also influenced later photographers known for their "lo-fi" style.
4. **Transsexual in Drag**: Another striking photo, this one captures a man dressed in drag, blending gender roles in a way that was unconventional at the time.
5. **The Old Woman with Roses**: A more delicate yet equally powerful image, this photo showcases Arbus’s ability to find beauty in unexpected places. The depth of field and focus on details like her glasses make it memorable.
6. **Russian Dwarfs**: This chaotic and messy photo is fascinating for its sense of theater and sarcasm. It exemplifies Arbus’s willingness to embrace chaos and challenge norms.
7. **Teenage Couple**: A tender yet real portrayal of two teenagers sitting on a bench, this photo captures the essence of youth and the desire to project maturity.
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### Diane Arbus's Legacy and Final Thoughts
Ted Forbes concludes by reflecting on Diane Arbus’s legacy. He acknowledges that her work can be jarring but emphasizes its importance in redefining beauty and human experience. Her ability to capture the raw, strange, and often uncomfortable truths of life sets her apart as a visionary photographer.
He also mentions the 2006 film *Fur: An Inquiry into the Nature of Love*, which is loosely based on Arbus’s life and features Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. While Forbes admits most of the film is fictional, he recommends it for those interested in learning more about Arbus.
Finally, he encourages viewers to explore her work through books and online resources, noting that her contributions to photography are essential and continue to inspire new generations of artists.
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### Closing Remarks
Ted Forbes thanks his audience for tuning in and assures them that links to his Pinterest boards and other resources will be provided in the show notes. He signs off with a promise to see you next time, leaving listeners with a deeper appreciation for Diane Arbus’s groundbreaking work and its lasting impact on the art of photography.
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This article captures the essence of Ted Forbes’s episode on Diane Arbus, preserving her story, her work, and her influence in full detail.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey everybody my name is Ted Forbes and welcome back to another episode of the art of photography and before we get cooking on our topic for today I want to give a special request out to you guys we have been nominated for the 2013 People's Choice Podcast Awards and specifically in the best video category and I did a video on this earlier this week that I put up so if you guys have already seen that I'm not gonna go into the details again but what I want to ask for is I say we because this has been not me but this has been me and you as the viewer a couple of you guys have nominated me and I'm extremely flattered we made it in a moderated list from several thousand podcasts down to a couple hundred and I'm pretty proud of that and pretty amazed by that and I could not have done that without you guys support without you guys that watch the show regularly it really means a lot to me and what we need now is your vote because the moderation is over they've whittled this down to the finalists and is People's Choice vote from here out you can vote every day for the next 15 days and to do that I will put the URL down here but you want to go to pod cast Awards com scroll down and look for the best video category feel free to vote in the other categories as well and make sure you vote for us if you like the show it helps considerably it makes it possible for me to continue to do this and it's a really nice award to be honored it's a pretty serious podcasting award the finalists will be announced at New Media Expo in Las Vegas this January and if you have a second please consider voting for the art of photography now on to what we're going to talk about today which is a very well-known photographer named Diane Arbus and Deanne Arbus is I will be the first to admit not the typical kind of photographer that I tend to cover on this show and for no specific reason I will be the first to say that I really love DNR vyses work I think she is a really natural progression and somebody who deserves to be in this show because the last show we did was on August sander who was a German photographer who greatly influenced an artists and there is a lot of connections you can make in their work and we're gonna look at some work in a second I will show you those specifically but I think that you know in the lineage of what the type of work that August sander started to do the DNR bus who admittedly says he was her single to influence I think there's a really natural progression there and I think it's very appropriate to talk about her work today I think DNR vus is a particularly interesting photographer on a number of fronts right now I need to say too that a lot of the photographers that tend to cover on here obviously are reflective of my own tastes and you know I tend to lean more towards classically trained photographers who have more classically influenced composition where you can identify things like rule thirds you know and it's not just stuck at that I mean there's something that obviously photographers or artists need to bring that brings their work beyond just a simple you know schema of criteria for what makes a good photo it always does DN Arbus I would compare and some of you guys are probably gonna start slamming me on this more towards a robert frank kind of photographer she wasn't about the classically trained composition is about what she was going for something that was new and completely different and I admire the heck out of that and I think that's what made her such a wonderful photographers that she really was pushing that envelope and it really had nothing to do with those things sometimes the work is really raw sometimes it's could be considered shocking to some people I think particularly at the time it came out even though you know last week we talked about August sander who did most of his work into the 30s Diane Arbus is a little bit later she's another generation past that and her work began to blossom really in the sixties and obviously the 60s in culture are a more turbulent time and it's more expected that people would go against the grain having said that though Diane Arbus was born I believe in 1923 a very interesting character she was you know came up in a very wealthy upbringing very upper-class her parents owned a department store in Fifth Avenue in New York had a lot of money has very big luminaries his relatives and she married her high school sweetheart 1941 who was a fairly decent photographer named Allen Arbus and the two of them opened up a photography studio together and started to shoot and what they were able to do was pretty successful they were actually had a photograph that was featured in the Edward second compilation family of man in the 50s and you know just having achieved that right there is a pretty big deal that time she ended up leaving Alan and you know in terms of both their relationship and to separate herself as a photographer which is kind of a little bit of a bittersweet sad story it took about eleven years for the divorce to finalize but now I'm not here to talk about that today but what's interesting is what she ended up going for subject wise much like a saunder she went for subjects that were more portrait portrait and orientation obviously their subjects and she tended to lean towards the I think what was the quote her biggest fears that she would be a photographer of freaks but there was something that she really identified with which was completely the opposite of where she came from and she would shoot everything from transvestites to people with mental disabilities to nudists to you know just it was kind of a freak show of sorts in the material that she shot what makes her importance of photographer and which is I firmly believe and I'm hope I'm relaying to you and we're gonna look at some of her work in a minute but you know it's redefining what beauty is or redefining beauty and I kind of like that term in some ways because you know there's all kinds of things that what we think art should be personally and it differs from my opinions to your opinions and you know you have people like Dean artists that come along or even August sander who came along you know a good thirty years before that really pushed this envelope and really try to make you think differently and whether or not you like their photographs and some of I'll be honest some of them I don't like but I respect them because they are challenging me to think differently and challenging me to see something in a new light and see maybe a redefinition of what we consider to be beauty and so you know like I said last week we covered August sander and I amazed by his work as well as well as Diane Arbus and I don't have any evidence that they ever met in real life however she hasn't been on several times she was influenced by him so I want to look at some of those connections and I wouldn't look at the wonderful work of DN Arbus so come on over and let's have a look okay so we're gonna look at DN Arbus today and once again I'm gonna use Pinterest for this you guys I have really come to love Pinterest it is a wonderful way of just but cocking images on the web and I mentioned this before in here and if you're not using Pinterest I would recommend it's pretty cool and if you want to see the boards that I put on here I keep a lot on here and my account is just Pinterest comm slash Ted Forbes and you can see that I've got boards in here for older episodes that we've done on everything from composition to and I keep some personal stuff in here as well but the other thing you can do is kind of see previews of what we're gonna do before we actually get to the episode which is kind of cool but if you scroll all the way to the bottom I have these organized into what they call boards and you can see here's some aboard for DNR bus which is what we're gonna be looking at today and we also have one last week from August sander and that's where I'm gonna start with this because sander was one of DNR vyses big influences and she mentioned that in fact I think I'm gonna paraphrase this and probably get it wrong but he was one of the few photographers she was really interested in and if you saw the last episode we kind of went into August Sanders work and I want to kind of start with this tie between the two because I think it's fairly interesting and you could explore it further too and it is kind of neat to see the lineage of you know kind of what one photographer passes on to another in terms of inspiration and influence and I wouldn't consider this to be a case of the DNR this was a clone at all I think what she really did was take this and spin it and take a step further into her own thing and she obviously was probably yeah way bigger name than August sander was she was a lot of populated she did a lot of periodical work shooting magazines like look and stuff like that so anyway she received much more Fame and notoriety during her career than then I think sander did early on in his but so last week for instance you know we explored August sander had this thing were you know I think the two things that went on kind of to passing on to to what artists did was shooting people that were of lower class working class sometimes misfits and life people with physical you know appearance issues you know mentally challenged blind people who were not thought of as what beautiful photography was at that period and sander really took that a step further and really redefined what beauty was so if you look at that and also this notion of pairs that come up in his work like these two gentlemen the two boxers or wrestlers here and then also these these two kids a lot of this you're gonna start to see Indian artisans work as well now we're gonna flip over and start there one of her most famous images ever is these two twins and for a lot of reasons this is such a beautiful image one these kids are just amazing I think that there's such an interesting look plus you start to see this play of symmetry between you know it's not a mirror image or photoshopped clone of you know one person but something that happens naturally in the world which is people who are born identical twins you also see this carry on through also to Stanley Kubrick the famous scene in the movie shining with the two sisters who are coming near the elevator and creepy scene but anyway and it is possible that Kubrick was influenced by this picture for what went on in that film as well I don't think that's ever been proven but they work together at Look magazine Diane Arbus and Stanley Kubrick so there was a crossing a paths and I'm sure there was a mutual respect that was going on there as well anyway that's one of the the really famous DN Arbus shots also with with Dean's work it's another very famous photo again these things that almost become freakish in a sense because you're dealing with people who more on the misfit end of things and obviously this boy looks a little on the deranged side his clothes are falling off he's clenching his fists and one of the fists is holding a grenade probably a toy grenade but you know starts being a disturbing photo by today's standard I think this photo doesn't have quite the shock value as it probably did in the sixties when it was made but at the same time I mean that's really what she was doing was pushing that envelope there's not you know a sense of beautiful composition or really there's kind of some messy stuff going on there's people standing in the background you know you could sort of make a case for rule of thirds but that's not what the enormous is about she's about throwing those rules out the window and doing something with composition that's a lot different another slightly famous shot that she did is this is kind of known as the Jewish giant at home with his parents and what we're seeing here is first of all somebody who's got some physical conditions that are really freakish in nature and he's got gigantism and obviously extremely big guy and and but like we saw with Auguste sanders work playing with the sense of proportion for instance if you know this is a family photo this is this gentleman with his parents and what becomes visually kind of weird and interesting here is you can tell he's a giant because of the proportion between he and his parents and you know I'm stating obvious stuff but that does is what creates visual interest it's a different picture if his parents aren't in it you don't notice that even though he's hunching to duct from the ceiling the other thing that's really interesting about this shot to me is you start to see this lo-fi quality that starts to come into play and this influenced an entire generation of photographers the Terry Richardson's the the kind of the cheap photography movement and I don't say that really to be derogatory but that's what the look was this this awful flash that's been getting horribly in the lens there's actually details that are blown out here again it's not about the technique it's not about composition it's not about you know the refinement of all those things in the craft it's about the raw and I think that's the important takeaway this famous fixture picture as well this transsexual you know or maybe androgynous nature that starts to come up in things it's obviously a man wearing curlers dressed in drag was shot in New York but redefining this is something that was not shot at that point in time and really kind of going underground with a lot of these things and you know I'm not a huge fan of shock value myself I don't think the d-n-r dissever took it too far but I think the subtleties are even more effective like this this old woman who this is such a great shot with this hat of roses and how you have this wonderful depth of field that really comes to play where it really focuses in on those rims of her glasses which are just you know almost comical and costume in nature just I think it's beautiful again with the cemetry here's some triplets that were shot again just these casual poses these are not formal portraits they're sitting on a bed you know against some bad wallpaper with some frilly curtains that's what she's going for on this this is also particularly interesting are these these Russian Dwarfs I don't know much about this shot other than the fact that it's a mess and it's also extremely interesting at the same time there's something that really draws you in here there's a sense of theater that goes on also a sense of sarcasm I think at times this image of the socialite with the again you're playing with proportion but assumably a toy dog it may be real I doubt it that's sitting on a little trolley behind her but the way the hairdo just ridiculously and absurdly echoes the poodles in this strange wire structure that even echoes that a third time in the background that's oddly placed you know so a real rawness but it's the other things that come into play it's the it's the sexual orientation it's the in this case the sarcasm I think that you know makes this lift the sense of symmetry when you see you know the twins the sense of proportion all those things and the other thing that I think I find really interesting about Dean artists is just the things like this that just they're the funny things in life that I think photography serves so well to cover and this is just a teenage couple but what's really pretty about this I mean there's garbage on the floor on the batter on the ground in the background but what you're seeing here is two kids that are obviously wanting to project themselves into an age bracket that's far beyond where they are or a sense of desired maturity maybe as a way to put this but these two kids that look like little tiny adults here you know and that's what happens in life that's what we all do when we're teenagers and I think she just captures that human side of things so well and it's not ever about a false human side like you know I'm dressing up and posing in a way to maybe appear in a way that I'm not or always look my best it's taking subjects and portraying them as they are and sometimes you see something that's a little weird a little disturbing a little unusual in this case or very beautiful in the case of the twins another teenage couple here sitting on a bench it's just there's such an Americana thing that's going on in this that's representative her in the 1960s just a couple more images to wrap this up but this was actually two that went together as part of a magazine spread and I've seen prints of these and and I just I for reasons I can't really explain but this bizarre image on the left of just it looks so 1960s this home with a Christmas tree that is way too big for the room and just the furniture the television everything has such a dated feel to it even the the fake icicles on the tree I just think it's it's it's beautiful and it's sensational a corny appearance and then you know you also see this family on the right-hand side and this is not opposed Christmas family photo but it's interesting seeing this juxtaposed against the the living room there's just a sense of reality that comes into play on these and then finally and this this is some credit to Arbus and also some credit to the the magazine spread that this came from I believe this was Look magazine but first of all you're not used to seeing vertical images from DeeAnn she usually shots square format so these were probably cropped by the publisher but I think this is such a wonderful way to summarize what DNR vyses work was really about because you have things you can't really explain like on the left hand side this freakish looking guy missing teeth it almost looks like a gorilla and is angry and the hair is wild and crazy' juxtaposed that on the right side where you have this this contrast in subject of two socialites and there's very little in focus it's a little blurred and it's you know you have this such intense thing going on the left you know almost menacing the subject on the right so just I think this is an interesting magazine spread that she was involved when with just these two images that there's such a beautiful contrast in dialogue that you see coming between them so anyway guys once again that's DNR versus work I will post some links in the show notes so you can go check out my Pinterest board and it's really interesting to see what she did and compare that with you know one of her big influences which was August sander who we covered last week and you see something that's much earlier but at the same time some of these themes carry through like you know one thing I mentioned earlier was the the sexual question mark event drogyny you know his this is a woman actually looking like a man and then at the same time here's the secretary that is a female who has some very man-like qualities and I think that Diane Arbus really was going through that especially with the transsexuals and transvestites she was shooting you know on a much more shocking scale but but anyway some wonderful work and you know I think Dan was one of the great and greats and I think that you know my personal opinion obviously I'm raving and raving here but but you know I think you need to sometimes if her work kind of is jarring of what you're looking at and you know what is respectable about the work and you might find that you really like some of it and anyway that once again is DN Arbus and there you go okay so that has been the work of DN Arbus and I hope you guys have felt a little bit of a connection to this particularly those of you who are not familiar with her work I think that for me personally and this is obviously a very personal opinion everybody's gonna feel differently when I first started seeing works by DN Arbus they were particularly difficult for me in some ways they were interesting but I think there was kind of this facade of this is okay this is this freak culture that she's shooting and is the room and my interest for that and really there's also something very appealing that draws you in Indians work and I think ultimately it did draw me in and I think really what it is is this whole redefinition of what is beauty and I think she did some wonderful stuff she shot some amazing people and she has really established this historical record of portraits of that I think it's really not only important but really essential to photography in general if you guys are interested there is a film that was made in probably I'm gonna give the year wrong 2006 2007 called fur which is was billed as a portrait of Diane Arbus and I will go ahead and say fourth right the only reason I'm even recommending this is if you're interested Indian artists it's probably worth of viewing about 90% of it is completely made-up the movie at times is kind of shoddy what ends up making it interesting is Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey jr. who are usually both pretty good other than that it doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything factual that ever happened with the end in fact the weird thing is the where it ends is where you really would like the story to continue so maybe that's a hallmark of a good movie I don't know but it's probably worth viewing if you're not familiar with the ends work at all anyway all this to say there's a lot of wonderful books a lot of wonderful resources I'll have links in the show notes and once again is the work of the wonderful Deanne Arbus so everybody thank you again for watching the spin the art of photography I'll see you next time laterhey everybody my name is Ted Forbes and welcome back to another episode of the art of photography and before we get cooking on our topic for today I want to give a special request out to you guys we have been nominated for the 2013 People's Choice Podcast Awards and specifically in the best video category and I did a video on this earlier this week that I put up so if you guys have already seen that I'm not gonna go into the details again but what I want to ask for is I say we because this has been not me but this has been me and you as the viewer a couple of you guys have nominated me and I'm extremely flattered we made it in a moderated list from several thousand podcasts down to a couple hundred and I'm pretty proud of that and pretty amazed by that and I could not have done that without you guys support without you guys that watch the show regularly it really means a lot to me and what we need now is your vote because the moderation is over they've whittled this down to the finalists and is People's Choice vote from here out you can vote every day for the next 15 days and to do that I will put the URL down here but you want to go to pod cast Awards com scroll down and look for the best video category feel free to vote in the other categories as well and make sure you vote for us if you like the show it helps considerably it makes it possible for me to continue to do this and it's a really nice award to be honored it's a pretty serious podcasting award the finalists will be announced at New Media Expo in Las Vegas this January and if you have a second please consider voting for the art of photography now on to what we're going to talk about today which is a very well-known photographer named Diane Arbus and Deanne Arbus is I will be the first to admit not the typical kind of photographer that I tend to cover on this show and for no specific reason I will be the first to say that I really love DNR vyses work I think she is a really natural progression and somebody who deserves to be in this show because the last show we did was on August sander who was a German photographer who greatly influenced an artists and there is a lot of connections you can make in their work and we're gonna look at some work in a second I will show you those specifically but I think that you know in the lineage of what the type of work that August sander started to do the DNR bus who admittedly says he was her single to influence I think there's a really natural progression there and I think it's very appropriate to talk about her work today I think DNR vus is a particularly interesting photographer on a number of fronts right now I need to say too that a lot of the photographers that tend to cover on here obviously are reflective of my own tastes and you know I tend to lean more towards classically trained photographers who have more classically influenced composition where you can identify things like rule thirds you know and it's not just stuck at that I mean there's something that obviously photographers or artists need to bring that brings their work beyond just a simple you know schema of criteria for what makes a good photo it always does DN Arbus I would compare and some of you guys are probably gonna start slamming me on this more towards a robert frank kind of photographer she wasn't about the classically trained composition is about what she was going for something that was new and completely different and I admire the heck out of that and I think that's what made her such a wonderful photographers that she really was pushing that envelope and it really had nothing to do with those things sometimes the work is really raw sometimes it's could be considered shocking to some people I think particularly at the time it came out even though you know last week we talked about August sander who did most of his work into the 30s Diane Arbus is a little bit later she's another generation past that and her work began to blossom really in the sixties and obviously the 60s in culture are a more turbulent time and it's more expected that people would go against the grain having said that though Diane Arbus was born I believe in 1923 a very interesting character she was you know came up in a very wealthy upbringing very upper-class her parents owned a department store in Fifth Avenue in New York had a lot of money has very big luminaries his relatives and she married her high school sweetheart 1941 who was a fairly decent photographer named Allen Arbus and the two of them opened up a photography studio together and started to shoot and what they were able to do was pretty successful they were actually had a photograph that was featured in the Edward second compilation family of man in the 50s and you know just having achieved that right there is a pretty big deal that time she ended up leaving Alan and you know in terms of both their relationship and to separate herself as a photographer which is kind of a little bit of a bittersweet sad story it took about eleven years for the divorce to finalize but now I'm not here to talk about that today but what's interesting is what she ended up going for subject wise much like a saunder she went for subjects that were more portrait portrait and orientation obviously their subjects and she tended to lean towards the I think what was the quote her biggest fears that she would be a photographer of freaks but there was something that she really identified with which was completely the opposite of where she came from and she would shoot everything from transvestites to people with mental disabilities to nudists to you know just it was kind of a freak show of sorts in the material that she shot what makes her importance of photographer and which is I firmly believe and I'm hope I'm relaying to you and we're gonna look at some of her work in a minute but you know it's redefining what beauty is or redefining beauty and I kind of like that term in some ways because you know there's all kinds of things that what we think art should be personally and it differs from my opinions to your opinions and you know you have people like Dean artists that come along or even August sander who came along you know a good thirty years before that really pushed this envelope and really try to make you think differently and whether or not you like their photographs and some of I'll be honest some of them I don't like but I respect them because they are challenging me to think differently and challenging me to see something in a new light and see maybe a redefinition of what we consider to be beauty and so you know like I said last week we covered August sander and I amazed by his work as well as well as Diane Arbus and I don't have any evidence that they ever met in real life however she hasn't been on several times she was influenced by him so I want to look at some of those connections and I wouldn't look at the wonderful work of DN Arbus so come on over and let's have a look okay so we're gonna look at DN Arbus today and once again I'm gonna use Pinterest for this you guys I have really come to love Pinterest it is a wonderful way of just but cocking images on the web and I mentioned this before in here and if you're not using Pinterest I would recommend it's pretty cool and if you want to see the boards that I put on here I keep a lot on here and my account is just Pinterest comm slash Ted Forbes and you can see that I've got boards in here for older episodes that we've done on everything from composition to and I keep some personal stuff in here as well but the other thing you can do is kind of see previews of what we're gonna do before we actually get to the episode which is kind of cool but if you scroll all the way to the bottom I have these organized into what they call boards and you can see here's some aboard for DNR bus which is what we're gonna be looking at today and we also have one last week from August sander and that's where I'm gonna start with this because sander was one of DNR vyses big influences and she mentioned that in fact I think I'm gonna paraphrase this and probably get it wrong but he was one of the few photographers she was really interested in and if you saw the last episode we kind of went into August Sanders work and I want to kind of start with this tie between the two because I think it's fairly interesting and you could explore it further too and it is kind of neat to see the lineage of you know kind of what one photographer passes on to another in terms of inspiration and influence and I wouldn't consider this to be a case of the DNR this was a clone at all I think what she really did was take this and spin it and take a step further into her own thing and she obviously was probably yeah way bigger name than August sander was she was a lot of populated she did a lot of periodical work shooting magazines like look and stuff like that so anyway she received much more Fame and notoriety during her career than then I think sander did early on in his but so last week for instance you know we explored August sander had this thing were you know I think the two things that went on kind of to passing on to to what artists did was shooting people that were of lower class working class sometimes misfits and life people with physical you know appearance issues you know mentally challenged blind people who were not thought of as what beautiful photography was at that period and sander really took that a step further and really redefined what beauty was so if you look at that and also this notion of pairs that come up in his work like these two gentlemen the two boxers or wrestlers here and then also these these two kids a lot of this you're gonna start to see Indian artisans work as well now we're gonna flip over and start there one of her most famous images ever is these two twins and for a lot of reasons this is such a beautiful image one these kids are just amazing I think that there's such an interesting look plus you start to see this play of symmetry between you know it's not a mirror image or photoshopped clone of you know one person but something that happens naturally in the world which is people who are born identical twins you also see this carry on through also to Stanley Kubrick the famous scene in the movie shining with the two sisters who are coming near the elevator and creepy scene but anyway and it is possible that Kubrick was influenced by this picture for what went on in that film as well I don't think that's ever been proven but they work together at Look magazine Diane Arbus and Stanley Kubrick so there was a crossing a paths and I'm sure there was a mutual respect that was going on there as well anyway that's one of the the really famous DN Arbus shots also with with Dean's work it's another very famous photo again these things that almost become freakish in a sense because you're dealing with people who more on the misfit end of things and obviously this boy looks a little on the deranged side his clothes are falling off he's clenching his fists and one of the fists is holding a grenade probably a toy grenade but you know starts being a disturbing photo by today's standard I think this photo doesn't have quite the shock value as it probably did in the sixties when it was made but at the same time I mean that's really what she was doing was pushing that envelope there's not you know a sense of beautiful composition or really there's kind of some messy stuff going on there's people standing in the background you know you could sort of make a case for rule of thirds but that's not what the enormous is about she's about throwing those rules out the window and doing something with composition that's a lot different another slightly famous shot that she did is this is kind of known as the Jewish giant at home with his parents and what we're seeing here is first of all somebody who's got some physical conditions that are really freakish in nature and he's got gigantism and obviously extremely big guy and and but like we saw with Auguste sanders work playing with the sense of proportion for instance if you know this is a family photo this is this gentleman with his parents and what becomes visually kind of weird and interesting here is you can tell he's a giant because of the proportion between he and his parents and you know I'm stating obvious stuff but that does is what creates visual interest it's a different picture if his parents aren't in it you don't notice that even though he's hunching to duct from the ceiling the other thing that's really interesting about this shot to me is you start to see this lo-fi quality that starts to come into play and this influenced an entire generation of photographers the Terry Richardson's the the kind of the cheap photography movement and I don't say that really to be derogatory but that's what the look was this this awful flash that's been getting horribly in the lens there's actually details that are blown out here again it's not about the technique it's not about composition it's not about you know the refinement of all those things in the craft it's about the raw and I think that's the important takeaway this famous fixture picture as well this transsexual you know or maybe androgynous nature that starts to come up in things it's obviously a man wearing curlers dressed in drag was shot in New York but redefining this is something that was not shot at that point in time and really kind of going underground with a lot of these things and you know I'm not a huge fan of shock value myself I don't think the d-n-r dissever took it too far but I think the subtleties are even more effective like this this old woman who this is such a great shot with this hat of roses and how you have this wonderful depth of field that really comes to play where it really focuses in on those rims of her glasses which are just you know almost comical and costume in nature just I think it's beautiful again with the cemetry here's some triplets that were shot again just these casual poses these are not formal portraits they're sitting on a bed you know against some bad wallpaper with some frilly curtains that's what she's going for on this this is also particularly interesting are these these Russian Dwarfs I don't know much about this shot other than the fact that it's a mess and it's also extremely interesting at the same time there's something that really draws you in here there's a sense of theater that goes on also a sense of sarcasm I think at times this image of the socialite with the again you're playing with proportion but assumably a toy dog it may be real I doubt it that's sitting on a little trolley behind her but the way the hairdo just ridiculously and absurdly echoes the poodles in this strange wire structure that even echoes that a third time in the background that's oddly placed you know so a real rawness but it's the other things that come into play it's the it's the sexual orientation it's the in this case the sarcasm I think that you know makes this lift the sense of symmetry when you see you know the twins the sense of proportion all those things and the other thing that I think I find really interesting about Dean artists is just the things like this that just they're the funny things in life that I think photography serves so well to cover and this is just a teenage couple but what's really pretty about this I mean there's garbage on the floor on the batter on the ground in the background but what you're seeing here is two kids that are obviously wanting to project themselves into an age bracket that's far beyond where they are or a sense of desired maturity maybe as a way to put this but these two kids that look like little tiny adults here you know and that's what happens in life that's what we all do when we're teenagers and I think she just captures that human side of things so well and it's not ever about a false human side like you know I'm dressing up and posing in a way to maybe appear in a way that I'm not or always look my best it's taking subjects and portraying them as they are and sometimes you see something that's a little weird a little disturbing a little unusual in this case or very beautiful in the case of the twins another teenage couple here sitting on a bench it's just there's such an Americana thing that's going on in this that's representative her in the 1960s just a couple more images to wrap this up but this was actually two that went together as part of a magazine spread and I've seen prints of these and and I just I for reasons I can't really explain but this bizarre image on the left of just it looks so 1960s this home with a Christmas tree that is way too big for the room and just the furniture the television everything has such a dated feel to it even the the fake icicles on the tree I just think it's it's it's beautiful and it's sensational a corny appearance and then you know you also see this family on the right-hand side and this is not opposed Christmas family photo but it's interesting seeing this juxtaposed against the the living room there's just a sense of reality that comes into play on these and then finally and this this is some credit to Arbus and also some credit to the the magazine spread that this came from I believe this was Look magazine but first of all you're not used to seeing vertical images from DeeAnn she usually shots square format so these were probably cropped by the publisher but I think this is such a wonderful way to summarize what DNR vyses work was really about because you have things you can't really explain like on the left hand side this freakish looking guy missing teeth it almost looks like a gorilla and is angry and the hair is wild and crazy' juxtaposed that on the right side where you have this this contrast in subject of two socialites and there's very little in focus it's a little blurred and it's you know you have this such intense thing going on the left you know almost menacing the subject on the right so just I think this is an interesting magazine spread that she was involved when with just these two images that there's such a beautiful contrast in dialogue that you see coming between them so anyway guys once again that's DNR versus work I will post some links in the show notes so you can go check out my Pinterest board and it's really interesting to see what she did and compare that with you know one of her big influences which was August sander who we covered last week and you see something that's much earlier but at the same time some of these themes carry through like you know one thing I mentioned earlier was the the sexual question mark event drogyny you know his this is a woman actually looking like a man and then at the same time here's the secretary that is a female who has some very man-like qualities and I think that Diane Arbus really was going through that especially with the transsexuals and transvestites she was shooting you know on a much more shocking scale but but anyway some wonderful work and you know I think Dan was one of the great and greats and I think that you know my personal opinion obviously I'm raving and raving here but but you know I think you need to sometimes if her work kind of is jarring of what you're looking at and you know what is respectable about the work and you might find that you really like some of it and anyway that once again is DN Arbus and there you go okay so that has been the work of DN Arbus and I hope you guys have felt a little bit of a connection to this particularly those of you who are not familiar with her work I think that for me personally and this is obviously a very personal opinion everybody's gonna feel differently when I first started seeing works by DN Arbus they were particularly difficult for me in some ways they were interesting but I think there was kind of this facade of this is okay this is this freak culture that she's shooting and is the room and my interest for that and really there's also something very appealing that draws you in Indians work and I think ultimately it did draw me in and I think really what it is is this whole redefinition of what is beauty and I think she did some wonderful stuff she shot some amazing people and she has really established this historical record of portraits of that I think it's really not only important but really essential to photography in general if you guys are interested there is a film that was made in probably I'm gonna give the year wrong 2006 2007 called fur which is was billed as a portrait of Diane Arbus and I will go ahead and say fourth right the only reason I'm even recommending this is if you're interested Indian artists it's probably worth of viewing about 90% of it is completely made-up the movie at times is kind of shoddy what ends up making it interesting is Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey jr. who are usually both pretty good other than that it doesn't have a whole lot to do with anything factual that ever happened with the end in fact the weird thing is the where it ends is where you really would like the story to continue so maybe that's a hallmark of a good movie I don't know but it's probably worth viewing if you're not familiar with the ends work at all anyway all this to say there's a lot of wonderful books a lot of wonderful resources I'll have links in the show notes and once again is the work of the wonderful Deanne Arbus so everybody thank you again for watching the spin the art of photography I'll see you next time later\n"