Xun Chen
Professor Sandra Clyne
First-Year Writing
11/07/2015
The Great Controversy: Diane Arbus Diane Arbus killed herself at age 48, on 26 July 1971, and her work remains problematic for many viewers because she transgressed the traditional notions of portraiture. Diane Arbus' unique portraiture style of capturing black and white photographs of subjects with physical oddities or mental and intellectual disabilities was a bit shocking for the time. The subjects who are often staring boldly into the camera usually look sad and grotesque. There are differing opinions of her work and motives in choosing the subjects that she did, some see her style as a form of humanism and others as a self serving type of voyeurism. In either instance, her…show more content… “The authority of Arbus’s photographs derives from the contrast between their lacerating subject matter and their calm, matter-of-fact attentiveness,” One of Diane Arbus' famous photographs is of a transvestite. He has curlers in his hair and is wearing makeup. The photo is an unflattering closeup with harsh lighting. Every imperfection in his skin is highlighted and his face is shadowy but pale. “This quality of attention—the attention paid by the photographer, the attention paid by the subject to the act of being photographed—creates the moral theater of Arbus’s straight-on, contemplative portraits.” (Susan Sontag) The subject looks directly at the camera as though he has nothing to hide which in the 60's I would gather was not the case, in fact I think he must have been rather brave. The photo gives me an uneasy feeling of spying on someone, seeing someone before they are ready to be seen. The quality of awkward openness is something Arbus sought out in her photographs it seems. The subjects are not hiding…show more content… If the Lartigue woman looked back, she might appear almost as strange.” (Susan Sontag) The photograph depicts an overweight older woman in a close up shot, a black netted veil over her face. The woman has pearl earrings and a fur coat, she has eye makeup and lipstick on and she's smiling in the photo. She's not a pretty woman but she's not ugly or odd looking, in fact she looks like she took some care getting dressed and was probably happy with her appearance that day. Hopefully she didn't read Sontag's essay and recognize herself being described as
