1. “I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favorite things about it”
Diane Arbus
Puerto Rican woman with beauty mark, New York, 1965

2. She was born Diane Nemerov
Diane Arbus
She was born Diane Nemerov
Her parents were a jewish couple, David and Gertrude Nemerov.
Identical twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967

3. Diane Arbus
Her parents were the owners of Russek‘s, a successful department store in New York City
Because of the wealth from the store, Arbus was able to attend private, progressive schools.
Diane at age 15

4. Diane Arbus
Upon completion of high school, however, Arbus did not continue on to college.
Instead, in 1945, at the age of eighteen, she married her high school sweetheart, Allan Arbus.
“Love involves a peculiar unfathomable combination of understanding and misunderstanding.” Diane Arbus”
Diane and Allan Arbus

5. Diane Arbus Together, the couple bore two daughters
Doon, born in 1945, grew up to be a writer
Amy, born in 1954, grew up to be a photographer
A young man and his pregnant wife in Washington Square Park, New York, 1965

6. Diane Arbus Diane and Allan began a separation in 1958
A Child Crying, New Jersey, 1967
Diane and Allan began a separation in 1958
They later divorced in 1969

7. Diane Arbus
Diane worked alongside with her husband as a fashion photographer for several years.
They ran a photography business called “Diane and Allan Arbus”
Through this company, they contributed to many well known magazines, such as Glamour, Seventeen, and Vogue

8. Diane Arbus
In 1956, Diane decided to quit the business with her husband.
She instead began studying photography with Lisette Model.
Lady at a masked ball with two roses on her dress, New York, 1967

9. Diane Arbus
It was at this point that Arbus switched her choice of camera.
She went from using a 35mm Nikon to a twin-lens reflex Rolleiflex camera.
It was this switch that allowed her to begin taking the detailed square images that she is famous for.
Teenage couple on Hudson Street, New York, 1963

10. Diane Arbus
Patriotic Young man with a Flag,
New York, 1967
Diane’s photographs demonstrate her unique style and vision.
She was fascinated with the unusual, as is seen through her photographs
“A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know.” –Diane Arbus

11. Diane Arbus
“I really believe there are things nobody would see if I didn't photograph them.”- Diane Arbus
Diane believed that she was supplying a glimpse of the world to viewers through her photographs that they otherwise would have never seen.
Seated Man in a bra and Stocking, New York, 1967

12. Diane Arbus
Her subjects were the abnormal, both physically and socially
These subjects included dwarves, midgets, giants, nudists, twins, and transvestites
A young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street, New York, 1966

13. Diane Arbus
She also photographed physically normal people who displayed qualities of despair, loneliness, boredom, and other separating qualities.
Lady bartender at home with a souvenir dog, Nueva Orleans, 1964

14. Diane Arbus
Despite her talent, Diane Arbus had a great amount of distress in her life.
She experienced depressive episodes thoughout her life, and wrote that “"I go up and down a lot”.
Her husband described her as having “violent mood swings”

15. Diane Arbus Diane Arbus died in 1971 at the age of 48.
She was found dead in her apartment after ingesting barbiturates and slitting her wrists.
Untitled detail (Marcella Matthaei), 1969

16. Diane Arbus
Despite her tragic and untimely death, the photographs of Diane Arbus have lived on.
She provided the world with a glimpse in to the secret corners of humankind.
“The world can only be grasped by action, not by contemplation. The hand is the cutting edge of the mind.”- Diane Arbus