More on the Diane Arbus Exposition @ Jeu du Palme

"The first part of my story is mostly taken from my imagination.

You also must use some imagination. I am not born yet..."

I've been to the Diane Arbus exhibition (in French it's exposition) and was I ever glad I went.  Plus, I had the benefit of going with a really talented photographer, my friend Nina. It was really worth the trip. I don't rave often about exhibitions, but when I left this one I had an urge satisfied. I felt like I understood Diane Arbus, her life and her work better than ever.

I'd like to share how I first discovered Diane Arbus. I was 14, taking photography in school (having bought a Pentax K1000 for the purpose and yet 20 years later I used my friend's and couldn't remember how to advance the film.), and I got this idea to run away to New York with said camera and take pictures like her. I made it to the bus station in Boston and from there I took a Greyhound bound for New York City.  Except it made a stop before Port Authority. In Harlem.

Needless to say Harlem wasn't the gentrified place it is now in parts, but a nice old man gave me money for a cab to take me to the Port Authority. He made me promise that I'd go straight back to school. I didn't get to snap a single picture. But the love continued.  When I finally got to visit New York City when I was older, I made it a point to take a few pictures. Obviously compared to Diane's they were quite crap, but I took them. I even borrowed a Pentax K1000 to make it official. They have since been lost or are packed up somewhere.

At the end of the exhibition there was a room with tables and the various books being offered for sale in the museum giftshop stowed away nicely in these desks that were built for the event. In the same room where quotes of Diane's all over the wall; her camera bag and a few cameras; her agenda; a notebook opened to two pages (which were hard to read because Diane tended to let her words run together in cursive); and my favourite bit - books from her library.

I didn't want to shell out for the book that was printed by the Fraenkel Gallery, but you can purchase the book here if it interests you. Instead I sat down at one of the desks and wrote down all the books that I had in my library that matched Diane's and all the ones I didn't have. Some were a surprise, others were not. I also have a little theory.

If you'd like to see what this picture (and some other famous pictures have sold for at auction click here.
If only I could find $7000 in my sofa cushions...I'd hang it on a wall in front of my writing desk.

In 1968 Diane photographed Jorge Luis Borges in Central Park. She also took a picture of Borges with his wife. What little I can deduce of Borges' personality from reading his conversations and various interviews, I'm pretty sure Borges must have recommended Diane a few good reads. After all, despite the misprint in the Fraenkel Gallery's book of her library, Diane had three copies of Louis-Ferdinand Celine's "Journey to the End of the Night" (Voyage au but de la nuit). She also had several other books that were beloved by "the librarian" such as Dante's "Divine Comedy", Rimbaud's "Illuminations", and two works by Borges himself ("Ficcones" and "Inquisitions" - which we have the same copy of).

I didn't write down all her books of course, but here are the highlights, and I've included every word I wrote down from Diane's notebook as well. It would be my wish that everyone could see this exhibition. In a world that often focuses on the external and superficial, Arbus' pictures force you to look deeper. I've never reacted to a photographer's work as I first responded to Arbus' many years ago. I sometimes wonder if I ever will.

Books in Diane's library and mine:

• First Edition, Tuttle Publishing, "Zen Flesh, Zen Bones"
• J.L. Borges, "Ficcones", "Inquisitions"
• New Directions, Arthur Rimbaud, "Illuminations"
• Louis-Ferdinand Celine, "Journey to the End of the Night", "Death on an Installment Plan"
• various works of Henry James
• Edith Wharton, "Age of Innocence"
• various works of Thomas Hardy
• Dante's "The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso"
• Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

Books in Diane's Library I'd like to maybe own:

• "Complete Home Care of Your Family Wardrobe", Constance Talbot
• "Division Street America", Stude Terkel
• "Fingers Pointing Towards the Moon: Reflections of a Pilgrim on the Way", Wei Wu Wei
• "Beasts and Man and The Seed", Pierre Gascar
• "Writers On Revolt", featuring the writings of Terry Southern and Alexander Trocchi
• "Oblomov", Ivan Goncharov
• "Autobiography of a Schizophrenic Girl", Marguerite Schehaye
• "Marius the Epicurean", Walter Pater
• "The Temptation to Exist", E.M. Cioran
• "The Inheritors: An Extravagant Story", Joseph Conrad and Ford Maddox Heufer (he didn't change his last name to Ford until 1919)

Here is the text I wrote down from Diane's notebook. I'm pretty sure it refers to subjects from photographs she took while visiting a mental hospital.

(Left page)

Phyllis is the one with glasses and large eyes. Solemn, intelligent mongoloid.

Barbara is sweet and bright and modest.  When I did her in bed in her flowered nightgown she lowered her eyes before raising them.

I think Johannes, the one with the cowboy hat.

At night they sat on their beds and said prayers in unison.  Hail Mary full of grace...I pray the Lord my soul to take.

I want to runaway from here and I don't know how to run. I don't like the girls in my building.  They boss me, call me low grade.  No one comes to visit me.  You're better off dead.

(Opposite page, right)

Marlene Woodruff posed in the rose garden.  I've got a boyfriend.  He says I'm beautiful.  I told him you haven't seen the pretty parts.  Eddie, 45, going to school.  Around her neck on a string was a key.  Her girlfriends gave it to her before she died. It's so to remember people who die.

Then pocketbooks seem to keep her alive.

Nancy is the slightly bearded one who lay in bed like an odalisque against the wall on _?_. (Couldn't make out the word.)

Sally is blind in a wheelchair laughing (25). 'Reading" her name. Red hair.

Carmelia is fat and crosseyed. Julie is her blonde friend.


Here are some other works of Diane's from the exhibition:

And Diane herself, at work in Central Park.

If you are in Paris or planning to be, make sure to check out this exhibition. It's worth a visit.