2023-07-05 16:22:00
As part of the 54th Rencontres de la photographie, the Luma Foundation celebrates the centenary of the birth of the singular American artist.
By Baudouin Eschapasse
A Family On Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, New York. Diane Arbus, 1968.
© ©The Estate of Diane Arbus. Published on 07/05/2023 at 4:22 p.m.
Do we still present Diane Arbus? Born in New York on March 14, 1923, the American photographer, by her maiden name Diane Nemerov, left behind an immense body of work, made up mainly of portraits of marginalized people and celebrities. Often disturbing, his images question our conception of normality. They give, in fact, the feeling of having only one object: to snatch their social mask from its models by exposing their share of strangeness.
Obsessed with the question of identity, perhaps because she was herself confronted with serious personality problems, the artist killed herself in July 1971. In April of the following year, the Venice Biennale does not offer him a first international recognition. Since then, it has been regularly honored around the world, from the MoMA in New York to the Jeu de Paume in Paris.
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Unpublished prints
The retrospective* offered this summer by the Luma Foundation for the centenary of the photographer’s birth brings together more than 450 prints, some of which have never been seen before, made over thirty years by Neil Selkirk, one of his former students. Conceived in the form of an immersive installation, this exhibition offers a stroll through Diane Arbus’ image factory. A way to discover in a new light these clichés where American society in the immediate post-war period reveals its true face.
*”Diane Arbus: Constellation”. Luma Foundation, La Tour, Parc des Ateliers. Until September 24.
See also… The Luma Foundation also offers exhibitions devoted to the visual artists Carrie Mae Weems (at the Mécanique générale) and Theaster Gates (at the Grande Halle), to the filmmaker Luke Fowler and to the portrait painter Peter Hutton (at 10, rue du Cloître), as well as at Maciejka Art (at La Croisière).
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