Synopses & Reviews
Diane Arbus's unsettling photographs of dwarves and twins, transvestites and giants, both polarized and inspired, and her work had already become legendary when she committed suicide in 1971. This groundbreaking biography examines the private life behind Arbus's controversial art. The book deals with Arbus's pampered Manhattan childhood, her passionate marriage to Allan Arbus, their work together as fashion photographers, the emotional upheaval surrounding the end of their marriage, and the radical, liberating, and ultimately tragic turn Arbus's art took during the 1960s when she was so richly productive. This edition includes a new afterword by Patricia Bosworth that covers the phenomenon of Arbus since her death, the latest Arbus scholarship, and a view of the first major retrospective of Arbus's work as well as notes on the forthcoming motion picture based on her story. Bosworth's engrossing book is a portrait of a woman who drastically altered our sense of what is permissible in photography.
Synopsis
The inspiration for the new major motion picture Fur starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr."Haunted, disturbing
.Bosworth has brought us tantalizingly close to her subject." So said Christopher Lehman-Haupt in the New York Times about this biography of the photographer. Diane Arbus exerts a fascination rooted in both her art and her life. Her startling photographic images of dwarves, twins, transvestites, and freaks seemed from the first to redefine both the normal and the abnormal in our lives. Now Steven Shainberg, the highly praised director of Secretary, has directed a film that draws on Arbus's life, work, and obsessions. Nicole Kidman stars as Arbus and Robert Downey Jr. plays her lover. Premiering at Cannes in May 2006, it will draw lavish attention and discussion when it opens in the fall.
Synopsis
Diane Arbus--now the subject of a national retrospective and a forthcoming movie--was the archetypal artist living on the edge.
About the Author
Patricia Bosworth is co-producer of the film Fur. Her books include acclaimed biographies of Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando, as well as her memoir, Anything Your Little Heart Desires. She lives in New York City and is a contributing editor of Vanity Fair.