A lifelong New Yorker, Diane Arbus (1923 – 1971), found the city and its citizens an endlessly rich subject for her art.
Working in Times Square, the Lower East Side and Coney Island, she made some of the most powerful portraits of the 20th century, training her lens on the pedestrians and performers she encountered there.
From a female impersonator in Long Island to a taxicab driver in his car, the images cast a light on some of the characters who inhabited the city at the time. Some of the images also come from further afield, from a picture of a fire eater in New Jersey, to a portrait of a tattooed man in a Connecticut bar, the photographs reveal a lot about the forgotten era.
These fascinating black and white pictures by legendary photographer Diane Arbus offer a unique glimpse into how America lived in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
(via dailymail)
Working in Times Square, the Lower East Side and Coney Island, she made some of the most powerful portraits of the 20th century, training her lens on the pedestrians and performers she encountered there.
From a female impersonator in Long Island to a taxicab driver in his car, the images cast a light on some of the characters who inhabited the city at the time. Some of the images also come from further afield, from a picture of a fire eater in New Jersey, to a portrait of a tattooed man in a Connecticut bar, the photographs reveal a lot about the forgotten era.
These fascinating black and white pictures by legendary photographer Diane Arbus offer a unique glimpse into how America lived in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
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| A woman on the street with her eyes closed in New York City in 1956 |
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| A Taxicab driver sits at the wheel as he carries two passengers in New York City in 1956 |
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| A woman with white gloves and a pocket book in New York City in 1956 |
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| A kid in a hooded jacket aims a gun in New York City in 1957 |
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| A girl with a pointy hood and white schoolbag stands at the curb in New York City in 1957 |
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| A woman on a New York City bus in 1957 |
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| A fire eater at a carnival in Palisades Park, New Jersey in 1957 |
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| A boy stepping off the curb in New York City in 1957-58 |
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| A female impersonator holds long gloves in Hempstead, Long Island in 1959 |
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| An elderly woman whispers to her dinner partner, at the Grand Opera Ball in New York City in 1959 |
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| A man in hat, trunks, socks and shoes at Coney Island, NYC in 1960 |
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| 'The Backwards Man in his hotel room' was taken in New York City in 1961 |
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| 'Jack Dracula at a bar' in New London, Connecticut in 1961 |
(via dailymail)
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