Amy Arbus

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image Amy Arbus (born April 16, 1954) is an American photographer. She teaches portraiture at the International Center of Photography, Anderson Ranch,[1] NORD photography[2] and the Fine Arts Work Center. She has published several books of photography, including The Fourth Wall which The New Yorker called her "masterpiece".[3] Her work has appeared in over 100 periodicals including The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Architectural Digest, and The New York Times Magazine.[4] She is the daughter of actor Allan Arbus and photographer Diane Arbus, the sister of writer and journalist Doon Arbus, the great-granddaughter of Russeks co-founder Frank Russek, and the niece of distinguished poet Howard Nemerov.[5][6][7]

Life and work

"On the Street"

From 1980 to 1990, Arbus had a monthly street style column in the Village Voice entitled "On the Street".[8] On starting with the Village Voice, Arbus said that "I went to the Voice with a portfolio that I had taken of one woman, my friend Jan Collins... All they said to me was 'take a picture of anyone who makes you turn your head.'"[9] These photographs explore performances of self and the ways in which people used fashion as an expression of creativity.[10] Her column often featured portraits of celebrities and tastemakers early in their careers including Madonna, fashion designer Anna Sui, nightlife impresario Susanne Bartsch, Andre Walker and The Clash.[9] Arbus shot her subjects from slightly below to "suggest they were monuments".[8]

In 2006, Welcome Books published On the Street : 1980–1990,[11] a collection of more than 70 of the most influential images from Arbus' time at the Village Voice, those that "lend a voice to an era when individuality and self-expression were fighting for breathing room in a culture that valued economics over creativity".[12] John Spellos then created a documentary called On the Street[13] following Arbus as she tracked down the subjects of these photographs 25 years after they were taken.

Recent work

In a talk at UCLA's Hammer Museum, Arbus described her reluctance to become a photographer and her years studying at the Berklee College of Music and hanging out with The Cars (then still unknown), before studying at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.[14] In an interview published in The Guardian, she explains her initial reluctance to enter the field of photography, stating, "I was holding myself back, afraid to compete with this legend... But I remember the minute the viewfinder came up to my eye, I thought, I'm home."[15]

Publications

  • No Place Like Home (1986).
  • The Inconvenience of Being Born (1999).
  • On the Street 1980–1990 (2006).
  • The Fourth Wall (2008).
  • After Images (2013).

Collections

Her work is held in the following public collections:

References

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  7. "Arbus, Diane (1923–1971)," Encyclopedia.com.
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External links

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