Famous Black and White Photography

Diane Arbus was born to David and Gertrude Russek Nemerov. The Nemerovs were Jewish and fairly wealthy, so Diane never experienced the full extent of the Great Depression. Her family was very artistic in general, which is probably what pushed her, and later her daughters, to jump into the arts world as well. Her father became a painter, her younger sister was a sculptor and designer, and her older brother became a poet. As a kid, Diane attended a prep school and at 18, she married her childhood sweetheart, Allan Arbus. She later had two daughters.

Diane and her husband were very interested in photography. They started out taking photographs for the department store her father once owned. Allan also worked for the army during WWII. After the war, the two of them started a commercial photography business called Diane & Allan Arbus where Diane was the director and Allan the photographer. They contributed to many glamour magazines, though they both claimed to hate fashion.

In 1956, she quit the commercial business and started assignments for other magazines. She switched cameras a couple times, and ended up with a twin-lens reflex Rollieiflex which produced clearer square photographs. She slowly started to switch from assignments to a more artistic style of photography. Allan and her separated in 1958 and divorced by 1969. She also suffered from depressive episodes.  Diane committed suicide in 1971, and a year later Arbus became the first American photographer to have photographs displayed at the Venice Biennale.





I picked these photos because they just speak to me. They just seem to have an undertone of hidden sadness, and an extensive story behind them. My favorite would have to be of the girl on a bed.