Diane Arbus

signed, dated, and numbered by the photographer's daughter, Doon Arbus, in ink, and with the 'A Diane Arbus print,' 'Doon Arbus, Administrator,' and Arbus Estate copyright and reproduction rights stamps on the reverse, matted, 1966

Acquired by the present owner from the Diane Arbus Estate, 1974

Other prints of this image:

Diane Arbus (Aperture, 1972, in conjunction with the exhibition originating at The Museum of Modern Art, New York), unpaginated

Diane Arbus: Revelations (New York, 2003, in conjunction with the exhibition originating at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), p. 46

John Szarkowski, Mirrors and Windows: American Photography Since 1960 (The Museum of Modern Art, 1978, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 100

Sarah Greenough, Joel Snyder, David Travis, and Colin Westerbeck, On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Photography (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., and The Art Institute of Chicago, 1989, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 360

Emma Dexter and Thomas Weski, eds., Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth-Century Photograph (Tate Modern, 2003, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 237

Photographien im Dialog  (Köln, 1997, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 57

Peter Weiermair and Gerald Matt, Americans: The Social Landscape from 1940 until 2006, Masterpieces of American Photography (Kunstalle Wien, 2006, in conjunction with the exhibition), p. 95

Eye of the Beholder: Photographs from the Collection of Richard Avedon (San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2006, in conjunction with the exhibition), vol. 1, unpaginated

This photograph is on double-weight paper with a semi-glossy surface. As is typical of the small number of surviving prints made by Arbus during her lifetime, this print shows some signs of its age. These are insignificant, however, and the photograph is essentially in generally excellent condition. As is typical of some Arbus prints, there is slight rippling in the paper, not affecting the image. There is slight foxing in the margins and at the edges of the lower quadrants. In raking light, a soft 8 1/2-inch diagonal crease is visible at the left side of the image, as well as faint speckling along the right side of the image. On the reverse, there is light soiling, as well as a 1/2-inch smudge on the lower right edge, and light foxing.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Writer Bill Hayes was thirteen in 1974 when he first saw Diane Arbus's photographs in a copy of her monograph at a Spokane, Washington, bookstore. Several times each month, he would take a bus downtown to spend time looking through the volume.  Rediscovering the photographs during Arbus's retrospective exhibition at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2003, he eloquently describes his reencounter with A Young Man in Curlers at Home on West 20^th Street,

'Seeing another photo in the show, "A young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street," I remembered how unsettling this particular image was to the unsettled me of thirteen. With his long lacquered fingernails, plucked eyebrows, and pockmarked skin that no amount of makeup could smooth over, this homely girly-man seemed like a nightmare vision of what could become of an effeminate boy.  In a staring contest between us, I would always blink first and have to turn the page.  Facing him again at the museum, however, where his portrait was the first displayed in the show, I saw a brave, regal creature. I nodded my respect and moved on' (The Threepenny Review, No. 97, Spring 2004).