A Young Family in Brooklyn Going for a Sunday Outing
Diane Arbus
American, 1923–1971
Details
Title
A Young Family in Brooklyn Going for a Sunday Outing
Artist/Maker
Diane Arbus (American, 1923–1971)
Date
1966, printed 1970
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
Contact the museum for more information
Credit
Purchase with funds from a friend of the Museum
Accession #
74.81 A
Location
Currently not on view
In the mid-1950s, Diane Arbus abandoned her career as a fashion photographer and began developing her oeuvre of direct, arresting portraits. Drawn to a wide range of subjects, she often photographed people who stood outside of societal norms; nudists, dwarfs, and the mentally handicapped were the focus of many of her most compelling images. This photograph of a Brooklyn family on a Sunday outing—one of ten Arbus chose in 1970 to represent her best work—exemplifies her uncanny ability to reveal something raw beneath the surface of the people she photographed. Taking the “ordinary” family outing as her subject, Arbus wryly juxtaposed the notion of idyllic family togetherness with a sense of isolation that is conveyed by the disconnected gaze of each subject, the odd appearance of the mother and the young boy, and the quiet haze of their urban environment.
Image Copyright
© (c) Estate of Diane Arbus
More from this Artist
Their numbers were picked out of a hat. They were just chosen King and Queen of a Senior Citizens dance in N.Y.C. Yetta Granat is 72 and Charles Fahrer is 79. They have never met before.
Diane Arbus