Amy Arbus (born April 16, 1954) is an American photographer. She teaches portraiture at the

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP) is a photography museum and school at 84 Ludlow Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. ICP's photographic collection, reading room, and archives are at Mana Contemporary in Jer ...

, Anderson Ranch, NORD photography and the

Fine Arts Work Center The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise that supports emerging visual artists and writers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The Work Center was founded in 1968 by a group of American artists and writers to support promising individual ...

. She has published several books of photography, including ''The Fourth Wall'' which ''The New Yorker'' called her "masterpiece". Her work has appeared in over 100 periodicals including ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', '' Vanity Fair'', ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', ''

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast ...

'', and ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

''. She is the daughter of actor

Allan Arbus Allan Franklin Arbus (February 15, 1918 – April 19, 2013) was an American actor and photographer. He was the former husband of photographer Diane Arbus. He is known for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the CBS television serie ...

and photographer

Diane Arbus Diane Arbus (; ; March 14, 1923 – July 26, 1971
by

, the sister of writer and journalist Doon Arbus, the great-granddaughter of

Russeks Russeks was a fashionable ladies' fur and clothing department store at 390 Fifth Avenue, at the intersection with West 36th Street, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, a building also known as the Gorham Building. The company was founded in 18 ...

co-founder

Frank Russek Frank Russek (1875/1876 - December 10, 1948) was a Polish-born American businessman, and the co-founder of the Russeks department store chain. He was the grandfather of photographer Diane Arbus (who in turn was the mother of photographer Amy Ar ...

, and the niece of distinguished poet

Howard Nemerov Howard Nemerov (February 29, 1920 – July 5, 1991) was an American poet. Nemerov was the Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of English and Distinguished Poet in Residence at Washington University in St. Louis. He was twice ...

Life and work

"On the Street"

From 1980 to 1990, Arbus had a monthly street style column in ''

the Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' entitled "On the Street". On starting with the ''Village Voice'', Arbus said that "I went to the ''Voice'' with a portfolio that I had taken of one woman, my friend Jan Collins... All they said to me was 'take a picture of anyone who makes you turn your head.'" These photographs explore performances of self and the ways in which people used fashion as an expression of creativity. Her column often featured portraits of celebrities and tastemakers early in their careers including

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

, fashion designer

Anna Sui Anna Sui (; born August 4, 1955) is an American fashion designer. Her brand categories include several fashion lines, footwear, cosmetics, Perfume, fragrances, eyewear, jewelry, Fashion accessory, accessories and home goods. Sui was named one ...

, nightlife impresario

Susanne Bartsch Susanne Bartsch is a Swiss event producer, living in the United States, whose monthly parties at the Copacabana in late-1980s New York City united the ''haute'' and ''demi-monde'', making her an icon of New York nightlife. "Ms. Bartsch's name," ...

, Andre Walker and

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

. Arbus shot her subjects from slightly below to "suggest they were monuments". In 2006, Welcome Books published ''On the Street : 1980–1990'', a collection of more than 70 of the most influential images from Arbus' time at the ''Village Voice'', those that "lend a voice to an era when individuality and self-expression were fighting for breathing room in a culture that valued economics over creativity". John Spellos then created a documentary called ''On the Street'' following Arbus as she tracked down the subjects of these photographs 25 years after they were taken.

Recent work

In a talk at UCLA's

Hammer Museum The Hammer Museum, which is affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles, is an art museum and cultural center known for its artist-centric and progressive array of exhibitions and public programs. Founded in 1990 by the entrepreneur- ...

, Arbus described her reluctance to become a photographer and her years studying at the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

and hanging out with

The Cars The Cars were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the New wave music, new wave Subculture, scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (l ...

(then still unknown), before studying at the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

. In an interview published in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', she explains her initial reluctance to enter the field of photography, stating, "I was holding myself back, afraid to compete with this legend... But I remember the minute the viewfinder came up to my eye, I thought, ''I'm home.''"

Publications

*''No Place Like Home'' (1986). *''The Inconvenience of Being Born'' (1999). *''On the Street 1980–1990'' (2006). *''The Fourth Wall'' (2008). *''After Images'' (2013).

Collections

Her work is held in the following public collections: *

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

. *

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York.

References

External links

*
John Paul Caponigro: Illuminating Creativity
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbus, Amy 1954 births Living people American people of Polish-Jewish descent American people of Russian-Jewish descent American portrait photographers Arbus family Jewish American artists The New Yorker people Photographers from New York City Rolling Stone people Vanity Fair (magazine) people The Village Voice people 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American photographers Russek family 20th-century American women photographers 21st-century American women photographers 21st-century American Jews