Untitled (17)
Artist
Diane Arbus
(American, 1923-1971)
Printer
Neil Selkirk
(American, born England, born 1947)
CultureAmerican
Date1970-71
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Support: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Overall, Image: 14 1/2 × 14 3/4 in. (36.8 × 37.5 cm)
Overall, Image: 14 1/2 × 14 3/4 in. (36.8 × 37.5 cm)
SignedSigned verso in ink by Doon Arbus, for the Estate of Diane Arbus
Portfolio22/75
Credit LineGift of Jeffrey Fraenkel and Frish Brandt
Object number2017.39.2
Not on view
DescriptionA woman in a dress stands in a field. An upside-down mask covers her face. Behind her is a line of trees.Label TextDiane Arbus American, 1923–1971 Untitled (17), 1970–71 Gelatin silver print Gift of Jeffrey Fraenkel and Frish Brandt 2017.39.2 Diane Arbus sought out the unfamiliar in her portraits, making visible those who previously felt invisible. This assertion of presence restores their agency of representation and calls our idea of “normal” into question. The first major retrospective of Arbus’s work was in 1972 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Critics offered mixed reviews of her photographs that focused on outcasts, people with physical anomalies, and the uncanny. Her practice has been viewed as both humanist and exploitative. Exhibition History"Facing Ourselves: Mike Disfarmer and the American Portrait," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, December 16, 2022 - May 14, 2023.
