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New article on Diane Arbus
Found this today and thought the paragaph below might have some info worth adding to her "Personal Life" section? A great read if you have not taken a look at the article yet:
As a teenager, Diane Nemerov imagined herself as a kind of human multiple, one girl with many faces. Her mother’s family owned Russeks, on Fifth Avenue, and her father was the president. The Nemerovs raised their three children on Park Avenue and then in a 14-room apartment in the San Remo on the Upper West Side; Diane studied at Fieldston. It was a formal childhood: She was cared for by a bevy of nannies and maids, driven by a chauffeur, cooked for by a professional; her parents pronounced her name in the French way, dee-ANN. Her father was often at the store, while her mother was distant, lingering in bed until nearly noon, applying face cream and smoking cigarettes. She once suffered a nervous breakdown that left her unable to wash or dress for many months, while the children were cared for by the help; during this period, 11-year-old Diane locked herself in her bedroom for hours at a time.
TBH, this article reads to me like an "appreciation", with unnecessary details and with references mixed together, for example, critical reception with auction prices. It is also uncomfortably hagiographic, especially in the opening section, making non neutral POV assertions by imputing intentions to her that are simply speculative. (Repeating puffery from noncritical or promotional sources does not do readers any favor, imo.)
I don't believe the extended biographical revelation above needs adding, but a sentence summarizing her background of unusual privilege and a depressed mother with a link to the story might be worth adding, but I offer the opinion that the point is already clearly spelled out.
Arbus is unquestionably a major art photographer of her era, with lasting influence. The article doesn't need to work as hard as it tries to do to make the point nor lead us through small details of her personal life.
Among areas that need some scrutiny and possibly pruning is the listing of celebrities and other famous people Arbus photographed.I tried to reduce some of the verbiage but did not touch the assertions I criticize above. I hope the article can draw the further evaluation of Wikipediers. cheers!
How could Diane Arbus have worked with members of the LGBTQ+ community when that moniker didn't exist before 1971? Sheesh. HaarFager (talk) 11:14, 23 December 2019 (UTC)
