ARBUS, DIANE (1923-1971) Roy Lichtenstein. Silver print, 8 3/4x8 1/2 inches (22.2x21.6 cm.), with "Thanks, Diane Arbus," in Arbus' handwriting, in ink, on recto and Lichtenstein's address, in her hand, in ink as well as the Estate's copyright stamp, print number, date and Doon Arbus' signature on verso. 1966
Each of the Arbus photographs, lots 295 to 300, is accompanied by an Authentication Letter from The Estate of Diane Arbus, that is signed and dated by Doon Arbus. The photographs were acquired from a friend of Arbus.
In the 1960s, a period when upmarket fashion and lifestyle magazines regularly hired renowned fine art photographers to illustrate their pages, Diane Arbus completed assignments for Esquire and Harper's Bazaar, eventually publishing over 250 photographs for more than 70 magazine articles.
Arbus' largest magazine assignment was for Harper's Bazaar in 1966. She illustrated a story entitled "The American Art Scene," which presciently addressed how New York City had supplanted Paris as the art world's powerful epicenter. The shoot lasted nearly the entire month of April. As a result, she postponed work on her 1966 Guggenheim fellowship in order to complete the job.
The story featured twelve emerging American artists, including Frank Stella, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Lee Bontecou and Agnes Martin. Arbus documented the burgeoning new American art scene through her honest and revealing portraiture. Painters and sculptors, Pop artists and Minimalists, each artist had a unique style that was melded together in the Bazaar photo essay, where the subjects are arranged in a grid-like layout.
Interestingly, Arbus poses each artist distinctly and without artifice. They are shown in a bare room or a nondescript outdoor location. These are intimate portraits of artistic figures made from the perspective of another artist.
By taking a brief hiatus from her usual focus (transvestites, hermaphrodites, little people, giants, and circus performers) she unveiled each artist not as a celebrity but as an individual with a decidedly human dimension. In this regard, her body of work reflects an approach to documentary photography she elucidated in her 1963 Guggenheim application, writing ". . . for what is ceremonious and curious and commonplace will be legendary."
