“A photograph is a secret about a secret.” - Diane Arbus
Diane Arbus held true to her title as “the chronicler of freaks,” as she captured those who were socially ignored and castrated. Born on March 14, 1923, she grew up in a rocky family with a workaholic father and clinically depressed mother. As a child, she was excruciatingly shy, living in constant fear. She had hidden secrets, a dark imagination, and preferred darkness over light. She “loved, in fact, to stay in a pitch-black room where she could wait for monsters to come and tickle her to death.” This upbringing played its role because it influenced the style in her photography.
Studying under photographer, Lisette Model, she was encouraged to develop a uniquely incisive documentary eye by concentrating on personal, focused pictures. She broke the mold of the “traditional photographer” and stirred controversy with her uncanny, against-the-norm pictures. She documented transvestites, twins, midgets, asylum inmates, and others with intriguing characteristics.
Diane Arbus conveys a harsh tone in her photography in several different aspects. The vast numbers of subjects she chose to capture brought her infamy and prestige for being not only bold but also unrelenting. The direct light technique she imposed on her photographs served to capture the subjects stories, from the mentally disabled to transvestites to nudists. Many of Arbus’ photographs have been described as bizarre and unusual but this was not her mission. Arbus found that people cast out of society portrayed aspects of everyone in society. This concept was a glaring truth to viewers who came to appreciate Arbus’ art. Arbus purposely chose to focus on the subjects, neglecting any special treatment to the setting and the background because she felt that “A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” (Diane Arbus)
Though she took her own life in the spring of 1971, her legacy and influence in photography has lived on. A year after her death, her work displayed at the Museum of Modern Art was the most attended solo exhibit in history. The mark Arbus left on the world will not diminish for her passion and intensity has been left behind in her array of telling photographs.