Diane Arbus | In the Beginning

The exhibition takes an in-depth look at the formative first half of Arbus’ career, from 1956 to 1962. Seven years during which the great American photographer developed the direct, psychologically acute style for which she later became so widely celebrated. Diane Arbus made most of her photographs in New York City, where she was born and died, and where she worked in locations such as Times Square, the Lower East Side and Coney Island. Her photographs of children and eccentrics, couples and circus performers, female impersonators and midtown shoppers, are among the most intimate, surprising and haunting works of art of the twentieth century.

Tracing the development of Arbus’ early work with a 35mm camera to the distinctive square format she began using in 1962, the exhibition features more than 100 photographs, the majority of which are vintage prints made by the artist, drawn from the Diane Arbus Archive at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.