Lady Bartender at Home with a Souvenir Dog, New Orleans, La., 1964
Artist: Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971)
Printer: Neil Selkirk
Date: 1964 (printed later)
Dimensions:
sheet: 21 7/16 x 16 1/16 in. (54.4 x 40.8 cm)
image: 14 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (36.8 x 36.8 cm)
Medium: gelatin-silver print
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Gift of Florence Scott Libbey, by exchange
Object number: 2006.147
Label Text:The daughter of wealthy clothiers in New York, Diane Arbus would later claim she had been born "way up the ladder of middle class respectability" and had been "clambering down as fast as I could ever since." This attitude is reflected in her most characteristic photographs, depicting people on the fringe of society. Her subjects, combined with her classic photographic methods, produced a powerful and often disturbing body of work.
The benign expression of the New Orleans bartender in this photograph suggests that the photo was taken with a camera with a waist-level viewfinder, which allows for a less intrusive, more balanced relationship between photographer and subject than does a camera held at eye-level. The woman wears no exaggerated expression, no forced smile. It is as if she is watching a photograph being taken—totally divorcing herself from the process. The bartender is observing the photographer, rather than the other way around.
The benign expression of the New Orleans bartender in this photograph suggests that the photo was taken with a camera with a waist-level viewfinder, which allows for a less intrusive, more balanced relationship between photographer and subject than does a camera held at eye-level. The woman wears no exaggerated expression, no forced smile. It is as if she is watching a photograph being taken—totally divorcing herself from the process. The bartender is observing the photographer, rather than the other way around.
Not on view
In Collection(s)