REVIEW: Diane Arbus’ work featured in new ‘Constellation’ exhibition
Diane Arbus: Constellation, 2025, Park Avenue Armory. All artworks © The Estate of Diane Arbus exhibited courtesy of Collection Maja Hoffmann / LUMA Foundation. Installation Photo courtesy of Nicholas Knight / Provided by Resnicow with permission.
NEW YORK — Diane Arbus was a photographer of great renown whose work continues to stir emotions and engage viewers. Now her images have been given a proper retrospective in a new exhibition called Diane Arbus: Constellation, running at the Park Avenue Armory through Aug. 17.
The show takes up the main hall of the Armory, which means visitors have a lot of space to view her stellar work. This location is the first of many positives of this far-reaching and powerful exhibition. The photographs, numerous and varied, don’t feel squeezed into the circuitous confines of a museum’s floor plan. The Armory, known more for its theatrical works, offers an enormous staging ground for appreciators to dig in for a multi-hour visit and walk amongst this “constellation” of images.
The photographs, which are displayed on an interlocking web of metal bars, are fascinating objects of diverse life from the 20th century. There are candid shots and staged portraits of individuals. Young people are represented, as are their older counterparts.
As one makes their way through the cascading rows of images, connections begin to emerge. In many ways, Arbus was interested in those individuals who were relegated to the fringes of society, but her images are not despondent or forlorn — in fact, quite the opposite. These groups of people, some of them families, are joyous in their abandon and uniqueness.
Some of the circus and sideshow performers are beautifully captured in black and white. One image depicts a sword swallower dressed in a white ruffly shirt, arms outstretched so as to balance the dangerous object between her teeth. Another photograph is a closeup of a woman with great concern on her face. Her head is enveloped in a black shroud, and her eyes are looking off into the distance. Another portrait is of a woman in an exquisitely ornate dress sitting on a similarly ornate couch, a small pot of flowers by her left and multiple layers of pearls around her neck.
There are some famous people featured amongst the photographs, but most of the images are of everyday people, with the subjects enjoying their life on their own terms.
On occasion, the convoluted layout of the photographs works against the exhibition’s impact. The connections are picked up and dropped so quickly, and sometimes it feels like more organization could occur to pool similar images together. However, it’s obvious that Constellation is chasing a certain level of discord in order to promote adventure and self-exploration. There is no one way around the exhibition, which means every visitor will have a different experience when taking in Arbus’ work.
Kudos to Matthieu Humery, the curator of the exhibition who lets this intimate work find a proper home in the large surroundings. Also, credit to Neil Selkirk, a photographer himself and a former student of Arbus’. Apparently he is the only person authorized to make prints from her original negatives, so this show at the Park Avenue Armory is quite the treat.
Constellation is the key word here when appreciating Arbus’ images. Just as the stars in the sky can be seen in a variety of different ways, and each onlooker essentially makes their own “constellation” of seemingly disconnected lights in the heavens, the same can be said of experiencing the work of this great American photographer. Visitors should make up their own constellation, their own way of connecting the dots.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Dian Arbus: Constellation continues through Aug. 17 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
