Diane Arbus: a biography, by Patricia Bosworth (HC, 1984, $2.50)
Diane was the spoiled daughter of an owner of a NY 5th Avenue department store. She married a photographer, and together they would do covers for Vogue, Glamour and Seventeen. Photographing the rich, famous, and beautiful, she could control her emotional demons.
Eventually working with beautiful people was not enough. When her marriage failed, a teacher told her to go photograph something that frightened her. She started photographing "freaks and eccentrics": little people, transvestites, nudists, street people, the malnourished, the ugly, and the mentally challenged. She photographed city streets, morgues, slaughterhouses, and sewers. Many of her photos revealed a startling sexuality. It was, after all, the 60s, and a time of rebellion. When her photos were exhibited at NYC's Museum of Modern Art, people either loved her work, or hated it. Photography would never be the same.
By the time the 1970s rolled around, her talent seemed to just slip away. She could work, but the photos were no longer any good, and her severe depression returned. Two weeks after she had last been seen in July of 1971, friends entered her apartment and found her decomposing body.
Her work had isolated her. Now, even in death she was alone. Few people attended her funeral. Most of her friends were out of town for the summer. Many never even heard she was dead until too late. She had died alone, and she left those who loved her art, or just her, to grieve alone.
Look for this book on the new non-fiction table. (L- bio)
