Lot 131 D

In 1963, the present motif was created and the respective photograph taken when Diane Arbus, who received a grant of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, worked on her project “American Rites, Manners and Customs”. Despite being primarily perceived as a photographer whose interest pertains to people living on the fringes of society, in other words transvestites, people of stunted growth, mentally ill people, nudists and so on, Arbus also took the seemingly “normal” existence of individuals that are well-off and firmly integrated into society into account. And yet, her pictures document a “rather private than social reality, rather psychological than visual coherence, rather the prototypical and mystical than current and era-specific events. Her actual theme was nothing less than the unique inner world of those whom she photographed” (John Szarkowski, cited after Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph, Munich 2003, blurb). A widow in her bedroom, N.Y.C. is a good example for the intensity with which Arbus managed to capture the state of the individuals she portrayed, what is characteristic of their person as well as their living situation: in the midst of all the Asian Art, which both the strong flash light and the shiny fabric of her dress reflect, the older lady, with her mask-like face, is clearly trying to remain composed - but in the end she gives the impression of a lost, very fragile decorative figure amidst all her collected treasures. With the relatively large picture detail, the photographer directs the observer's eye to small but telling details such as the crumpled piece of paper carelessly lying on the floor or the drawer with its unorganised interior - details that contradict the representative surroundings along with its heavy velvet curtains and precious vases. Arbus herself has pointed out the merciless, dissecting elements in her pictures from time to time: “The process itself has a kind of exactitude, a kind of scrutiny that we're not normally subject to. I mean that we don't subject each other to. We're nicer to each other than the intervention of the camera is going to make us. It's a little bit cold, a little bit harsh”(cited after Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph, Munich 2003, p. 2).
If Diane Arbus was accused of voyeurism again and again, her photographs and all their blunt directness, however, are by no means devoid of compassion for those portrayed. John Szarkowski, who was already cited above, also drew attention to this fact: A widow in her Bedroom, N.Y.C. pertained to the selection of pictures from Arbus' “American Rites, Manners and Customs“ project which he showed in one of his most important exhibitions “New Documents” in the Museum of Modern Art in 1967 along with works by her colleagues Lee Friedlander and Gary Winogrand (cf. a correspondent exhibition view, printed in Diane Arbus. Revelations - Offenbarungen, Munich 2003, p. 184). In his introductory text for the exhibition, it says on the photographic work presented here: “Their aim has not been to reform life, but to know it. Their work betrays a sympathy - almost affection - for the imperfections and the frailties of society” (ibid., p. 51). With the displayed black borders of the negative, the present photograph shows a significant characteristic of the hand made prints by Diane Arbus from the years up to 1969, a sort of presentation with which she wanted to ensure the authenticity of the print and which she also insisted on for this exhibition.