Documentarians?

In the March 22 issue of "The New Yorker" magazine there is an

article entitled "Homecoming Queens" by Mark Singer. There is a

single photo by Sylvia Plachy that provides a very appropriate visual

accompaniment to the article. On looking at the picture, one of the

first things that occured to me was that Sylvia Plachy was probably

pretty directly influenced by Diane Arbus, who I think has only

recently received over-due recognition as a documentary

photographer. I am wondering which other modern photographers

working primarily in a documentary style owe a similar debt to

Arbus.

Check out the work of Shelby Lee Adams, Roger Minick, Les Krims, Jeanette Williams, Sally Mann to name a few. Arbus influenced a generation and beyond of photographers.

 

If you're interested, read Patricia Bosworth's biography on Arbus. Pub. Knoph.

I don't generally disagree with Jake's recommendations, but I'm not a fan of the Arbus bio. Far better to read the new book (Revelations) if you want to understand Arbus.

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll look forward to tracking down some examples of the works of those folks. I'd love to read _Revelations_, but I've only seen it at B&N encased in a plastic wrapper. That means I can't do my usual number in the cafe section of the bookstore over a cup of Starbuck's. May just have to break down and buy the thing.

Jeff,

 

Jeeeze, I guess I'm going to have to get the Revelations book :>) Is it that much better than the Bosworth tome? I know there are more pix.

 

I saw the original MOMA retrospective back in the 70's. It was enourmously powerful. Of course, since then we've been inundated with so many confrontational images it's easy to forget how groundbreaking her pictures were.

 

Last year, I was visiting a friend's gallery here in LA when Alan Arbus and his daughter walked in to look around. Too cool. I was lucky enough to be introduced.

"<i>I saw the original MOMA retrospective back in the 70's. It was enourmously powerful..."</i><br><br>I believe I saw some of her pictures hung there on the first floor in the '60s. I was impressed, but I have to confess I didn't really know what to make of them. I think most people at the time were in the same boat. Nice to see a lot of previously unseen work emerging along with some much better assessments of her work.

Thre was just an expose' on her on Sunday Morning on CBS. There is also a

magazine article as well that I just read in one of this months magazines.