DIANE ARBUS AT THE FRAENKEL
Her Processed, Poignant Work Remains Unmatched
The enduring acclaim and repute that surround late photographer Diane Arbus remain unmatched. With a photographic career that lasted only 15 short years, the New York-based artist cemented her name in the hall of fame, creating some of the most poignant works of art in photography from 1956 until her passing at the age of 48 in 1971.
Now on view at the Fraenkel Gallery in San Francisco, a selection of 45 of Arbus’ images are on display, the exhibition curated by the great contemporary American artist, Carrie Mae Weems. The gallery approached Weems with a simple, yet weighty proposition — to select the images that spoke “powerfully and directly to her.” This method is not completely unlike Arbus’ own approach to photography in which she would immerse herself and blend into the architecture of the streets, allowing for her inherent instinct to lead her to press down against the shutter button and capture the images she was drawn toward.
Outside of photography, one of Arbus’ natural gifts was the ability to very keenly describe her goals and dreams in photography, as well as the romantic process of capturing images. In one statement she commented, “I don’t press the shutter. The image does, and it’s like being gently clobbered.” Even in high school, Arbus was acutely aware of both herself and those around her, writing in the year 1939, “There are and have been and will be an infinite number of things on earth: individuals all different, all wanting different things, all knowing different things, all loving different things, all looking different. Everything that has been on earth has been different from any other thing. That is what I love: the differentness, the uniqueness of all things and the importance of life….I see something that seems wonderful; I see the divineness in ordinary things.”
Race, sexual orientation, and financial status did not perturb or confine Arbus, who photographed Puerto Rican, Black, and white individuals alike. Among her subjects were transexuals, nudists, body builders, those in the elite class, as well as the everyday people Arbus encountered in parks and on the streets of New York City. While Weems’ selection of images within the exhibition showcases some of the photographer’s more well-known images, a larger focus is cast upon on the less famed imagery. The exhibition falls in step with the fundamental morality of Arbus herself, celebrating all aspects of the photographers grandly dynamic ouvre.
The exhibition is on display from June 3 until August 13, 2021. To learn more, visit here.
