Have you seen a lily grow before rude hands have touched it?
Have you ever seen an image so frank and beautiful that it moves you to tears?
I have.
It's a self-portrait of Diane Arbus, one of my major artistic influences, that was taken when she was 21 and pregnant with her daughter, Doon. Patricia Bosworth, who authored the most well-known book on Arbus, wrote a piece a couple years ago for Vanity Fair in which she spoke of hanging the image above her desk, and how she liked to look at it an imagine all the things Arbus was contemplating when she took the photograph. Bosworth faxed the picture to Nicole Kidman before filming began on the film, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. Arbus is one of those tragic artists who I think most every artistic girl has identified with at one time or another. She struggled with eking out her own identity as a wife, mother, and photographer. She choose to shoot subjects most others wouldn't touch, such as sideshow freaks and nudists. She killed herself at age 48.
I think her work speaks for itself. It presents a rare and beautiful glimpse into the more surreal aspects of the human experience. It fills me with happiness, with sadness, with hope.
The fictionalized film about her life, Fur, was critically-maligned, but I think it's absolutely stunning. Steven Shainberg, who also directed Secretary, made it magical:
I have.
It's a self-portrait of Diane Arbus, one of my major artistic influences, that was taken when she was 21 and pregnant with her daughter, Doon. Patricia Bosworth, who authored the most well-known book on Arbus, wrote a piece a couple years ago for Vanity Fair in which she spoke of hanging the image above her desk, and how she liked to look at it an imagine all the things Arbus was contemplating when she took the photograph. Bosworth faxed the picture to Nicole Kidman before filming began on the film, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus. Arbus is one of those tragic artists who I think most every artistic girl has identified with at one time or another. She struggled with eking out her own identity as a wife, mother, and photographer. She choose to shoot subjects most others wouldn't touch, such as sideshow freaks and nudists. She killed herself at age 48.
I think her work speaks for itself. It presents a rare and beautiful glimpse into the more surreal aspects of the human experience. It fills me with happiness, with sadness, with hope.
The fictionalized film about her life, Fur, was critically-maligned, but I think it's absolutely stunning. Steven Shainberg, who also directed Secretary, made it magical:
Click to view