Diane Arbus's journey to success

Docent Analysis

I have provided this background information on Diane Arbus and how she has used her photography in a way many cannot do by using her technique to not only show perfection in her subjects, but to capture their complexities as well. Her image of “A naked man being a woman, N.Y.C.” provides the same effects that her other pieces have. The man in this photo is showing off his femininity through the way he is standing with one leg popped out and his hand on his hip, the shaved arms and legs that are shining back at the camera, and the makeup on his face. He feels comfortable with these easy things to spot. His genitals are tucked away to make it seem like he has a vagina instead of a penis and his eyebrows are thin and drawn on. From this observation, Arbus is showing us the perfectionism he has while being a woman. However, she is showing us the things he does not want everyone to see, like the hair on his chest and stomach, the wide feet, broad shoulders, and large neck still make him have the features of a man. The short hair on him is dark, lining up with a shadow that makes it look like he could have long hair. This provides a way to show that he is uncomfortable in the body he was born with. The facial expression on his face looks content with how he looks, but not fully satisfied. The background shows a messy room with cans, clothes, and garbage everywhere, which reveals the negative mentality he has as well. There is a bra on the floor and women's underwear on the bed, providing details of the secret life of him being a cross-dresser. The way Arbus has created this photo with highlights on not only the man but the room itself to create a better look into this man’s life provides the evidence to show how powerful Arbus’s work is for others to accept others' complexities and unknowns to change the social norms of society and providing the proper help and environment they need to survive and thrive.

The start before the "freaks"

The beginning of Diane Arbus’s career started after she married her husband, Allan Arbus, at 18, when she found a passion for photography after World War II. The couple worked with New York Magazine, Vogue, Glamour, and Seventeen in New York City, where she had lived her whole life. They initially started their career as fashion photographers while working in a commercial photography business for ten years till they were able to open their own successful business called Allan and Diane Studio.  Arbus was in charge of creating the style for their shoots, while her husband handled the technical side of things while always encouraging her to pursue her creativity by taking her own pictures. Arbus hated the world of fashion and began to suffer from a deep depression, which is when she decided to quit styling in 1957 and started pursuing her own career independently, which at the time went against the model of women.  By 1960, she had separated from her husband and started studying with Alexei Brodovitch.  Arbus still maintained a career as a solo commercial photographer for eleven years while creating her other work on the side, and in those years, she published over 250 images for more than 70 magazine articles.  Harper’s Bazaar Magazine was one of the famous and most frequent fashion magazines that Arbus worked on by herself , showing her style through the woman’s facial expression and the position she is in. The seriousness in the woman’s face with the eyes looking at the viewer almost as if she is watching while showing the woman having one eye bigger than the other and her body being positioned in a pose that seems awkward and uncomfortable while she pushes out her stomach; is how Arbus begins to start the technique of capturing and shining a light on the flaws and insecurities of others. The way she showed the big poof at the top of the shoulders instead of facing the model forwards makes the observer feel drawn to the poof and follow the one piece up towards the model's face, along with down the front of her body to see the stance she is in. This was her way of breaking the patterns that most photographers used, which made her mark in photography.   

Works Cited 

Estrin, James. "Diane Arbus: [Obituary (Obit); Biography]." New York Times, 11 Mar., 2018. ProQuest, https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/n….

Mac Austin, Hillary . “Diane Arbus | Jewish Women’s Archive.” Jwa.org, 2010, jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/arbus-diane.

Smee, Sebastian. "Diane Arbus was accused of exploiting 'freaks.' We misunderstood her art." The Washington Post, 02 Oct., 2022. ProQuest, https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/n….

“Diane Arbus.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arbus.

The career change that made history

Enhancing the career to end it all

From the mid to late 60s Arbus became more confident and enhanced her erotic image with dwarfs, intimate photos of couples in bed and orgies. She would befriend her models and sometimes seduce them to get a little more intimate image to capture the comfortability of the subject. Arbus was a complex person with depression, restless and sexually adventurous, and someone who craved intense experiences, which made her able to enter her subjects' minds and capture their own complexity and unknowably. This is what made her unique and creative with her techniques by creating a way for the world to see their complexities and embracing the imperfections of each individual's lives. This image from the last portfolio Arbus was creating before she died shows the way she enhanced her photography. The dwarf looks calm and comfortable modeling for her nude, with his arm relaxing on the nightstand and his foot up on the bed, and a towel covering himself. His shoulders are relaxed, and he’s got a slight smile on his face, which indicates she made him feel at ease. Arbus also captured the bags under his eyes, roll under his arm and the bigger belly showing he is tired and on the heavy side, but the highlights create a map starting with his shoulder down his body showing off lines that are there from some muscle, while the hat shows he’s a well-off working man. She is capturing all of him instead of trying to make him look flawless while showing him how to embrace his imperfections. Not long after this image was taken, Arbus had become incredibly depressed and took her own life on July 26, 1971, at the age of 48, just as she was becoming a legend for young up-and-coming photographers.

Estrin, James. "Diane Arbus: [Obituary (Obit); Biography]." New York Times, 11 Mar., 2018. ProQuest, https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/ne....

Mac Austin, Hillary . “Diane Arbus | Jewish Women’s Archive.” Jwa.org, 2010, jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/arbus-diane.

Smee, Sebastian. "Diane Arbus was accused of exploiting 'freaks.' We misunderstood her art." The Washington Post, 02 Oct., 2022. ProQuest, https://ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/ne....

“Diane Arbus.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 10 Mar. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arbus.

 Kaninsky, Martin. “Diane Arbus - One of America’s Best Known and Most Inspirational Photographer.” About Photography, about photography, 14 Mar. 2024, aboutphotography.blog/blog/2019/11/22/diane-arbus.