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Diane Arbus Hardcover – January 1, 1987

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 211 ratings
Editors' pick Best Biographies & Memoirs
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Previous page
  1. Language
    English
  2. Publisher
    SERA E RIVA EDITORI
  3. Publication date
    January 1, 1987
  4. Dimensions
    6.38 x 1.89 x 9.45 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0224097709
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0224097703
  7. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ SERA E RIVA EDITORI; First Edition (January 1, 1987)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0224097709
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0224097703
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.92 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 1.89 x 9.45 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 211 ratings

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Arthur Lubow

Arthur Lubow

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
211 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

RELUCTANT BOOMER
5.0 out of 5 stars Truly Excellent Biography
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2023
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As another reviewer wrote, this is the best biography I have ever read. This book is beautifully written
about a complicated person who is not easy to write about or to understand. The author uses
intelligence, compassion and empathy to tell the story of Diane Arbus whose photographs were
both brilliant and disturbing. This description mirrors how Diane Arbus negotiated her life - she was
tortured with depression and seemingly tried with all her might to overcome it. Her mother was
clinically depressed and not present emotionally, and Diane wanted her to love her and see her.
This was not to be, and I think this fact was at the core of so much of what transpired. The book is
excellent on every level, her photography is genius, and the rest is complicated. Brilliant wonderful book!!!
3 people found this helpful
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S. Cooke
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Great Biographies
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2016
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Perhaps everyone who has ever looked at Dianne Arbus's photos has wondered how she feels about her subjects; does she empathize with them or is she exploiting them? The woman who took the pictures is no less confounding, fascinating, and deeply touching.

Lubow's extensive research and in-depth interviews with many people in Arbus's life, his insightful analysis of her work, his evenhanded history of her life, including its many contradictions, and his sensitive attempt to bring her into as coherent a whole as any complex human being can be made into, make this not just a masterful biography of Arbus but a notable exemplar of the biographical art itself.

The biography tells us, of course, not just of one life, but many, including Dianne's husband, the photographer and actor, Allan Arbus. And it's an exploration of the time when photography grew beyond Steichen's galleries into a major force in the New York art world. It gives insight into a critical era in fashion photography and the influence of Arbus's good friend Richard Avedon. And it deals sensitively with her suicide, the heartbreaking finale to her life but not to her fame and influence.

It helps too that Lubow is a gifted, lucid writer who manages to work so much of his extensive research into the book without ever wearying the reader.

Another reviewer here laments that Lubow didn't obtain rights to Arbus's pictures, which we would of course all like to have in our hands as we read the book, but the rights are impossible to obtain. They are kept under extremely guarded control by Arbus's daughters. You can, however, read the biography with books published by the daughters and thus gain immediate and full advantage of Lubow's penetrating analysis.
33 people found this helpful
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B. D. Colen
4.0 out of 5 stars Inside the mind of a brilliant, deeply troubled, artist
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2016
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First, let's acknowledge that Arthur Lubow's writing is, at best, pedestrian. None the less, this biography of mid-20th century photography icon Diane Arbus is a must read page turner for any student of photography, or the arts in general. The possessor of a truly brilliant, wildly original mind, Arbus was wracked by insecurity, self doubts, and, most likely, by that psychiatric illness de jour, bipolar disorder. I have long been troubled by ethical issues related to the way she appears to have taken advantage of her vulnerable subjects, but after reading Lubow I think I understand the basis of those lapses, and see her work in a new light. In addition to being a biography of Arbus, this is a fascinating snap shot of mid century New York City and its world of photography and fashion.
4 people found this helpful
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Alice Driver
5.0 out of 5 stars All the wild, weird beauty and emotion of Arbus and her photos
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2019
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Although this biography is ultimately heartbreaking, as a freelancer myself in the middle of the wild highs and lows of this life, I intimately found it comforting to read how Arbus was constantly torn between her art and the need to make money. None of us can escape that dichotomy or the tension between the feelings of nurturing our own creations and surviving. What a wild and fantastic woman constantly pushing the limits but also m paying the price for her daring at a time when men were allowed so much more freedom from judgment. Arbus was a writer in every sense of the word and this biography captures her poetic eye.
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Alan S. Levine
5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Read
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2016
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I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The author does a superb job of explaining the complicated and some would say tortured life of Diane Arbus in a readable and compelling fashion. Vivid portraits are created of many of her most well known photos and the reader comes away with a clear understanding of how she created the photos as well the subjects themselves. As interesting as Arbus' life was with her unusual values and pursuits, the author also brings us into the lifestyles of many of her friends, acquaintances and subjects while painting a picture of a time long gone in America as seen through the life of an incredibly interesting woman from a well off New York family growing up during the 1950's and 60's.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon_Shopper
3.0 out of 5 stars Dry Coverage of an Exciting Life
Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016
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I am still slogging through this & it doesn't seem to be getting any better. The author did not get rights to include the images, but spends a great deal of time describing them for you, you then have to look up online or have a companion book to see what he is rambling on about. Very dry & slow, kind of disappointing, none of the creative flair you woulf expect covering this incredible artist.
3 people found this helpful
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jmaurelius
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant bio of a troubling artist
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2020
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Diane acted, in a way, as a surrogate for each of us in confronting that which we find both frightening but familiar in each other as well as in ourselves. A biography that was difficult to put down as much due to its subject as to its style. A wonderful homage! Thank you, Arthur Lebow.
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Bio Junkie
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommend a great biography and I’ll read it
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2016
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Recommend a great biography and I’ll read it. After checking out various reviews of Arthur Lubow’s Diane Arbus bio I ordered it and sat down to feast upon the photographer’s fascinating life and unique photographs. This book has it all: it’s insightful about her art, it’s beautifully written, and it's replete with the kind of detail that comes only when an author has fully grasped the complexities of his/her subject. Lubow’s descriptions of Arbus’s photographs are so good that I didn’t miss the inclusion of photographs. (Goggle them if you must.) This book is a page-turner.
13 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Martha moreno
4.0 out of 5 stars Diane Arbus: Portrait of a Photographer.
Reviewed in Mexico on May 21, 2021
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El libro llegó con un día de retraso, pero llegó y es lo que importa. La edición es muy sencilla, el papel delgado tipo periódico; presenta algunas fallas de imprenta sobretodo en las fotografías, se ven unas líneas blancas e inconsistencia en la imagen por falta de tinta, el texto se ve claro y no presenta problemas.
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Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Just incredible!
Reviewed in Germany on March 8, 2022
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Anyone who is remotely interested in this fascinating photographer and her work, has to read this book. Expect to disappear down rabbit holes though as you read about the other artists in her world. Just brilliant!
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Dipankar Das Hair Dryer
4.0 out of 5 stars A good purchase :)
Reviewed in India on June 19, 2021
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The media could not be loaded.
 Excited to read the book, but this is worth the money.
No sign of wear and tear, the edges are slightly bent though but it's okay.
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Dipankar Das Hair Dryer
4.0 out of 5 stars A good purchase :)
Reviewed in India on June 19, 2021
Excited to read the book, but this is worth the money.
No sign of wear and tear, the edges are slightly bent though but it's okay.
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Alison Druce
5.0 out of 5 stars Best biography of Diane Arbus by far.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 23, 2020
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I have read a few biographies and watch Fur, the adaption of her life on film (avoid, its terrible) and came across this book as a recommendation from someone at MoMa. I am so pleased I purchased it. Great writing, short chapters (love shorter chapters) and I had never come across most of the details previously. Won’t spoil it by telling you what but by the second chapter I was hooked.
2 people found this helpful
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Araceli Schmitt
4.0 out of 5 stars Interessante
Reviewed in Brazil on October 6, 2017
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Gostei muito, mas Gostaria de ter recebido em português. Ficará um pouco mais difícil pra entender, mas achei interessante
Obrigada
One person found this helpful
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