Diane Arbus

Arbus was a pioneering photographer and influential artist of the 1960s known for her poignant, frank

photographs of overlooked and marginalized people and views of mid-century American life. Born in New

York City in 1923, she began photographing in the 1940s shortly after marrying (and later divorcing) her

husband Allan at age 18. In 1960, she published her first photograph in Esquire and over the next decade

contributed photographs to major magazines including Harper's Weekly, Seventeen and many others.

She later taught at Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, and Cooper Union. Arbus

was posthumously honored as the first American photographer to be shown at the Venice Biennale in

1972.

The artist died by suicide in 1971 and has since become a bit of a cult figure in photography and

American culture at large.