Diane Arbus - Photographs New York Tuesday, October 1, 2019 | Phillips
  • Provenance

    Originally given by the artist to Valentina Litvinoff, circa 1967
    Sotheby's, New York, 4 May 1988, lot 55
    Christie's, New York, 27 April 2004, lot 232

  • Literature

    Arbus, Sussman, Philips, Selkirk and Rosenheim, Diane Arbus: Revelations, p. 72
    'Diane Arbus,' Camera, vol. 51, no. 11, November 1972, p. 12

  • Catalogue Essay

    Diane Arbus sent this photograph to her friend, the dance instructor Valentina Litvinoff, encouraging her to see her photographs at The Museum Modern Art's seminal New Documents exhibition. Her inscription reads, 'Dear Valentina, that was such a nice note you sent me once and I would really like you to see the show (Museum of Modern Art Main Floor West Wing) called "New Documents" a third of which is mine. Please do go.'

  • Artist Biography

    Diane Arbus

    American • 1923 - 1971

    Transgressing traditional boundaries, Diane Arbus is known for her highly desirable, groundbreaking portraiture taken primarily in the American Northeast during the late 1950s and 1960s. Famous for establishing strong personal relationships with her subjects, Arbus' evocative images capture them in varied levels of intimacy. Whether in their living rooms or on the street, their surreal beauty transcends the common distance found in documentary photography.

    Taken as a whole, Arbus' oeuvre presents the great diversity of American society — nudists, twins, babies, beauty queens and giants — while each distinct image brings the viewer into contact with an exceptional individual brought to light through Arbus' undeniable genius. 

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World View: Property from a Private Collection

136

Waitress, Nudist Camp N.J.

1963
Gelatin silver print, printed circa 1967.
2 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (7 x 7 cm)
Signed, titled and extensively inscribed in ink on the verso.

Estimate
$12,000 - 18,000 

Sold for $12,500

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Photographs

New York Auction 1 October 2019