Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/05/18

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Subject: [Leica] Arbus revisited
From: charcot at comcast.net (charcot)
Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 07:41:00 -0600
References: <E1M5nfc-0006mQ-Hf@elasmtp-masked.atl.sa.earthlink.net> <6CC3F3F9-4561-4372-AC42-2AB561A9D11E@comcast.net> <1E4F2EC9-4EBC-4E98-A39A-9BA9D4307309@usjet.net>

Robert - who is Elsa Dorfman?

ernie
On May 17, 2009, at 10:30 PM, Robert Meier wrote:

> From a review of Bosworth's biography by Elsa Dorfman:
>
>
> The book abounds in what I suspect is improvisation, hearsay and  
> undocumented speculation. The standards of language and accuracy  
> (let alone interpretation) are very low.
>
> Bosworth keeps on reminding us that Arbus was only interested in the  
> aberration, off-beat sexual practices, tortured sexual identities,  
> and physical and mental deformities of her subjects. She suggests  
> that Arbus was purposely exploitative and sensationalistic.  
> Ironically, this is precisely Bosworth's own approach to her  
> subject. She is obsessed with real and imagined aberration,  
> speculates about what she considers offbeat sexual practices,  
> imagines tortured sexual conflicts...Diane Arbus eludes Bosworth  
> completely.
>
> The interesting questions are left unasked, let alone, unanswered:  
> How did this woman, brought up in the most constricting,  
> conventional environment, come to have such a unique personal vision  
> in which style and subject-matter were perfectly matched? How did  
> she produce so much valuable work in just eleven years? Why was she  
> so insecure and uncomfortable with her talent? Was her insecurity  
> and lack of self-esteem (as reported, I suspect accurately, by Studs  
> Terkel) related to her narrow, ungenerous vision? Was she afraid of  
> her own success? And finally, why did she, like Sylvia Plath before  
> her in 1963, end her life?
>
>
>
>
>
> On May 17, 2009, at 5:43 PM, Charcot wrote:
>
>> Robert - if you come up with the discredited parts or Bosworth let  
>> us know.  I read it and assume that it's true so anything you come  
>> up with I'd be interested.
>>
>> ernie nitka
>> On May 17, 2009, at 3:13 PM, <photo.forrest at earthlink.net> wrote:
>>
>>> That's what I was going to say, why does it really matter what  
>>> cameras she used? Contax, Nikon, Leica, Mamiya, whatever. She's  
>>> Diane Arbus and her images are some of the most beautiful ever  
>>> made. She could have used a Diana & they would have been just as  
>>> powerful. Its just a box with a hole on one side and a recording  
>>> medium on the other.
>>> Phil Forrest
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>
>>> From:  Michiel Fokkema <michiel.fokkema at wanadoo.nl>
>>> Subj:  Re: [Leica] Arbus revisited
>>> Date:  Sun 17 May 2009 4:59 pm
>>> Size:  1K
>>> To:  Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>
>>>
>>> Who cares? Why a keypoint?
>>> It's the image that counts.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Michiel Fokkema
>>>
>>> Robert Meier wrote:
>>>> I think Bosworth's biography has been discredited on many key  
>>>> points,
>>>> but I don't know the details.  Needless to say, whether she used  
>>>> a Leica
>>>> or not would be a very key point.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On May 17, 2009, at 2:21 PM, Tina Manley wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> At 03:00 PM 5/17/2009, you wrote:
>>>>>> Found this on photo net:
>>>>>> "
>>>>>> Diane Arbus never used a Leica for her work.
>>>>>> The guy gives off the air of knowing what he's talking about.
>>>>>> I mean when you get that specific....
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Mark William Rabiner
>>>>>
>>>>> From her biography by Patricia Bosworth:
>>>>>
>>>>> page 108 ?hated the big 8 x 10 camera; she preferred the Leica.
>>>>> page 124 ?anyway-she always had a camera, usually a Leica, in?
>>>>> page 127 She would still record the sessions with her Leica for?
>>>>> page 195 ? Leica for years, but in 1962 she changed to a Rolleif?
>>>>> page 231 ?cameras. She still missed the lightness of her Leica,?
>>>>> page 246 ... D I A N E A R B U S novative work with a Leica  
>>>>> (that sm?
>>>>>
>>>>> Searched on Amazon.
>>>>>
>>>>> Tina
>>>>>
>>>>> Tina Manley
>>>>> www.tinamanley.com
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Leica Users Group.
>>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more  
>>>>> information
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> information
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
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>
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Replies: Reply from robertmeier at usjet.net (Robert Meier) ([Leica] Arbus revisited)
In reply to: Message from photo.forrest at earthlink.net (photo.forrest at earthlink.net) ([Leica] Arbus revisited)
Message from charcot at comcast.net (Charcot) ([Leica] Arbus revisited)
Message from robertmeier at usjet.net (Robert Meier) ([Leica] Arbus revisited)