DIANE ARBUS AND CINDY SHERMAN

DIANE ARBUS AND CINDY SHERMAN

SIMILARITIES:
Diane Arbus mastered her technique of using a square format, which emphasizes the subject more than the photograph’s composition. She also used flash lighting, which gives her work a sense of theatricality and surrealism. She began at that time to explore the subjects that would occupy her for much of her career: individuals living on the outskirts of society and “normalcy,” such as nudists, transvestites, dwarfs, and the mentally or physically handicapped. Her own evident intimacy with the extraordinary subjects of her photos resulted in images that engage the sympathy and collusion of the viewer and elicit a strong response.
The subject of sexual fetishism, sadism, misogyny is Sherman’s work. The subject of sexual fetishism, sadism, misogyny is Sherman is essentially a conceptual artist using photography rather than a photographer in love with the medium. Once she transitioned to color, this distinction informed her work in a negative way. You can't lie in living color.
ARTISTIC OBJECTIVE OF THEIR PHOTOGRAPH
Arbus’s unrelentingly direct photographs of people who live on the edge of societal acceptance, as well as those photographs depicting supposedly "normal" people in a way that sharply outlines the cracks in their public masks, were controversial at the time of their creation and remain so today.
Sherman is essentially a conceptual artist using photography rather than a photographer in love with the medium. Once she transitioned to color, this distinction informed her work in a negative way. You can't lie in living color.
WORK UNIQUELY FEMALE IN PERSPECTIVE
Arbus studied under Lisette Model. Model encouraged Arbus to concentrate on personal pictures and to further develop what Model recognized as a uniquely incisive documentary eye. Soon after Arbus began her studies with Lisette Model, she began to devote herself fully to documenting transvestites, twins, midgets, people on the streets and in their homes, and asylum inmates. Arbus's pictures are almost invariably confrontational: the subjects look directly at the camera and are sharply rendered, lit by direct flash or other frontal lighting. Her subjects appear to be perfectly willing, if not eager, to reveal themselves and their flaws to her lens.
Sherman’s repertoire of images has included movie stars, centerfold nudes, fairytale characters, victims of disasters, and historical figures. Some of her portraits have produced comic or grotesque effects with plastic body parts, dolls, and her own made up body.

PHOTOGRAPHY OF DIANE ARBUS

PHOTOGRAPHY OF CINDY SHERMAN

INTERPRETATION
My interpretation on their photograph is that it is very bold and purposely intended for guys. In my opinion, their photographs can attract guys if it is on a men’s magazine. I said that because most of their models are half naked and/or naked. However, it contains a deep meaning and very difficult to understand.
SOURCES:
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/S/sherman/sherman_articles4.html
http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/arbus_articles1.html