1. By: Cassidy Lark

2. Diane Arbus was born on March 14 th, 1923 and died at the age of 48 on July 26 th, 1971 She was an American photographer and writer noted for photographs of deviant and marginal people or of people whose normality seems ugly or surreal. This included dwarfs, giants, transgender people, nudists, and circus performers. Diane was the best known female photographer of her generation.

3. "My favorite thing is to go where I've never been” “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 “You see someone on the street, and essentially what you notice about them is the flaw.” “Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding.” “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.”

5. After she finished high school at 18 she married Allan Arbus. He was the one who gave Diane her first camera. She then took a class with the famous photographer Berenice Abbott. She eventually started taking photographs of clothing and these were used as advertisements at her Father’s store. After the birth of their daughter, Doon, Diane and Allan started a business together where the purpose was to photograph clothing fashions. Diane was the stylist and Allan was the photographer. They soon acquired jobs from important fashion magazines such as “Vogue” and “Harper’s Bazaar”

6. Their work was very successful during the 1950’s They were breaking with past traditions to create a new look for a new decade, the sixties.

7. Some art critics believe Diane Arbus photographed such unusual people as a result of her background. She grew up in a safe and wealthy environment. In photographing the strange and imperfect people in society, she rejected her own social group. She revolted against her upbringing to prove that she was artistically independent. She chose to explore the unusual sides of society instead of accepting common subjects to photograph.

8. She wanted to explore her own artistic expression and freedom. To do this, she stopped working with her husband. Then she started taking photography classes at the New School in New York City. Lisette Model, influenced her in many ways She taught Diane to use her art to face her doubts and fears. Miss Model once said that Diane soon started “not listening to me but suddenly listening to herself.” She often chose to photograph unusual people living on the edge of acceptable society.

9. She caught her subjects in positions where they show themselves completely. They do not seem afraid to show their imperfections and strangeness. They do not hide the parts of themselves that are not beautiful. They openly show their bodies and souls. Seeing the pictures, you sometimes feel you are interfering in the private lives of these strange people. You feel like maybe you are not supposed to be looking.

10. Arbus learned to mix the realistic nature of photography with its expressive possibilities. She explored how people live with sameness and difference as well as acceptance and rejection. These combinations created very interesting art that was often disputed.

11. Diane Arbus is known for creating intense black and white photographs of very unusual people. She used a special camera that produced square shaped images. Often her subjects look sad, conflicted or physically abnormal. But they do not try to hide their insecurities. They openly stare at the camera. One art expert said Diane Arbus turned photography inside out. Instead of looking at her subjects, she made them look at her.

12. In 1972, a year after she took her own life she became the first American photographer to have photographs displayed at the Venice Bennale. “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” This comment helps explain what is so powerful about Diane Arbus’s work. The people in her photos show themselves, but a great deal about them remains hidden as well. Her images make you ask what you might show about yourself -- and what you might try to hide.