Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/05/18
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Robert many thanks for the info - I wonder if she ever met Arbus as their paths may have crossed? ernie On May 18, 2009, at 8:33 AM, Robert Meier wrote: > Elsa Dorfman (born April 26, 1937) is a portrait photographer who > works in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is now known for her use of a > Polaroid 20 by 24 inch camera (one of only 6 in existence, according > to her web site FAQ,[1] from which she creates large prints. She has > photographed famous writers, poets, and musicians including Bob Dylan. > > Her principal published work, originally published in 1974 and out > of print but now available on her web site, is Elsa's Housebook - A > Woman's Photojournal,[2] a photographic record of family and friends > who visited her at 19 Flagg Street in Cambridge when she lived there > during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many famous people, > especially literary figures associated with the Beat generation, > were in her circle of acquaintance and as a result are prominent in > the book, including Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsberg and Peter > Orlovsky, Gary Snyder, Gregory Corso, and Robert Creeley, in > addition to people who would become notable in other fields, such as > radical feminist Andrea Dworkin and civil rights lawyer and > Foundation for Individual Rights in Education co-founder Harvey A. > Silverglate (who would become Dorfman's husband). She has also > photographed staples of the Boston rock scene such as Jonathan > Richman frontman of The Modern Lovers, and Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith. > Portrait of Bob Dylan and Allen Ginsberg, 1975. > > As Dorfman explains in her Housebook,[3] she moved to New York City > in 1959 and found a job as a secretary to the editors at Grove > Press, a leading Beat publisher. When she later moved home to > Cambridge to pursue her master's degree, she called herself the > "Paterson Society" and began arranging readings for many Beat > authors who had become friends, maintaining an active correspondence > with them as they traveled the world. By 1962, she was teaching > fifth grade; poet Paul Blackburn visited her in school one day and > read to the children "to the shock of the very straight principal." > A year later, in 1963, Dorfman began working for the Educational > Development Corporation whose photographer, George Cope, introduced > her to photography in June 1965. She made her first sale two months > later, in August 1965, for $25 of a photograph of Charles Olson > which was used on the cover of his book The Human Universe. Due to > economic limitations, she did not buy her own camera until 1967, > when she sent a check for $150 to Philip Whalen who was then in > Kyoto, Japan, and he in turn enlisted Gary Snyder, who could speak > Japanese, to purchase the camera and mail it to her. In May 1968, > she moved into the Flagg Street house which would become the basis > of her Housebook. > On May 18, 2009, at 8:41 AM, charcot wrote: > >> 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 >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>>> Leica Users Group. >>>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more >>>>>> information >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> No virus found in this incoming message. >>>>>> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com >>>>>> Version: 8.5.329 / Virus Database: 270.12.32/2118 - Release >>>>>> Date: 05/16/09 17:05:00 >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Leica Users Group. >>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more >>>>> information >>>>> >>>>> --- message truncated --- >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> Leica Users Group. >>>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more >>>>> information >>>> >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> Leica Users Group. >>>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more >>>> information >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Leica Users Group. >>> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information > > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information