Good-by Diane Nemerov (Arbus)

Diane Nemerov was Diane Arbus's maiden name. To me, her special place in photographic history is that she was the first of the Postmodern photographic artists who made a complete photographic philosophical split from the old photographic world which came before her.

This allegorical image, representational of her passing from the living to the dead, is in homage to her as there's nothing "Postmodern", in the photographic sense, about the image.

Quiet image, lovely reflections spoilt for me by the skew horizon line, my eye is constantly drawn there.

I would be interested in the source of you quotes on Arbus.

Hi Jennifer.

Not sure of what quotes you're interested in. Maybe what you're seeing in my above, is an opinion of what I've personally discovered (opinion) from investigation of her photography and what I've read into her writings or that what I've read others to say of her biography.

I see her personal tale (biography) to be that of an overt, yet extremely sensitive individual, who had little to no understanding by others close to her and through her final efforts, in her last days, she was looking back at you, through the eyes of her subject matter; her immortality.

"...the skew horizon line, my eye is constantly drawn there."

As was intended. The horizon is skewed because it was captured at a diagonal. I'm looking NW and the horizon runs S to N (left to right), at a receding diagonal; so it's a receding line. The left side is hundreds of yards away, the right side is miles away.

The underlying intent of the image is that it represents the passing of Diane from the living to the dead and the boat is metaphorical of the Greek (mythology) boat her Soul took from the living to the dead. Hence why the image is designed for the eye to run out of the image and not have a circular path way, back into the image.

Sadly, death is forever and we're forever..... without Diane Arbus. Her genius and distraught psychic will be eternally missed. :(

I hope my above helps. :)

Hi Jennifer.

For perspective purposes, you're on the most SE corner of the San Francisco Bay. Kick back from the screen, place your hands behind your head and enjoy the feel of the image, at a distance from the monitor and let your mind wander into the distance as one might, staring out, mindlessly over the horizon. And like a soul lost, notice how your vision doesn't come back into the image, although the foreground is right there in front of you. :)

Thank-you for your thoughts!