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CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF AMY ARBUS' PHOTOGRAPHS

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Cover of "The Fourth Wall"

All images © Amy Arbus, except where otherwise noted


My beginning studies of photography in the early 1970s included analyzing the work of current photographers, and I was particularly drawn to the imagery of Diane Arbus.  When I later moved to New York City in 1981, I was intrigued with the work of her daughter Amy Arbus, whose images were regularly seen in The Village Voice in her style page, “On The Street,” from 1980 to 1990. 

Her book, On The Street, published by Welcome Books in 2006 incorporates many of the images she took for The Voice and offers a bohemian look at New York City in the 1980s.  Welcome Books has also published her current book, The Fourth Wall, which looks at actors from the New York theatre scene, and the reviews have been phenomenal, with even harsh critics like John Simon praising her artistic skills.  Recently, I was able to contact Amy and ask her about her photography and the world of publishing.

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Robert Schaefer: Since both of your parents were photographers, did you assume growing up that you would enter this field?

Amy Arbus © John Spellos

Amy Arbus: Quite the contrary, since both of my parents were photographers, it seemed redundant to be one myself.  When I finally became a photographer, my parents were no longer photographing.  Much to my delight and his constant consternation, my father is photographing again.  


RS: Was there any one reason which influenced your decision to become a
photographer?

AA: All of my friends knew I was a photographer before I did because I spoke of the world in visual terms.  I studied every other art I could think of until a friend took me out photographing one day and I knew I was home.


RS: Were you encouraged to take photographs in your childhood?

AA: Not particularly. I remember loving to take Polaroids.  


RS: Did you study photography formally?  Who were some of the teachers who motivated you?

AA: I studied with Bill Burke at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.  I took workshops with Larry Fink, Sylvia Plachy and Keith Carter, but it wasn't until I took a Master Class with Richard Avedon that I took myself seriously as a photographer.

Julio

RS: Has your imagery been inspired by other photographers or artists in other medias?

AA: My influences are August Sander, Irving Penn, Truman Capote, Francis Bacon, Alfred Hitchcock, Fritz Lang, Otto Preminger, Elia Kazan, Nicholas Ray, John Huston, Martin Scorsese, Orson Welles and, of course, my mom Diane Arbus.    


RS: How did you come to work for The Village Voice?

AA: I had been doing street photography with my friend Jan Long in Boston and I showed those images to George Delmerico at The Village Voice.  He asked me to do a style page on spec, which became On The Street.


RS: Which people did you particularly enjoy shooting for The Voice?

AA: It's hard to choose a favorite from over 500 mini-sessions in ten years of work. One of my favorite images is 'Julio.' I found a garage door for him to peer into so that I had a reason to photograph him from behind, showing his back which was the most interesting part of his outfit.  Scratched into the paint next to him was a shape that echoed his.  Another favorite is 'D Train'. When I made the photograph I didn't speak to the subject. I made the exposure to maintain shadow detail and the effect was a lack of detail out the window, which looks like he is staring at his own mortality.   

D-Train

RS: Your book, On The Street 1980–1990 has been very well received.  What were some of the difficulties you faced in getting it published?  What advice would you offer to photographers aspiring to produce a book of their work?

AA: Finding the right publisher seemed impossible despite people’s enthusiasm for the project. Things have a tendency to happen when they're supposed to, rather than when you want them to.  My advice to others is to persist and not be discouraged...Even Robert Frank had trials and tribulations trying to get The Americans published.


RS: Assuming that your early work was done using an analogue camera and printed from negatives, what equipment do you use now?  Do you think that film and photographic paper will eventually disappear?

AA: I use Hasselblad 501CX, Nikon N90S and Contax T2 cameras with film and Polaroid 665 positive negative film which is no longer being made. I am hoping Fuji will make a similar film. I use a Leica D-Lux 3 digital point-and-shoot and I just purchased a Nikon D300, which I'm enjoying immensely. Digital will never replace analog for me, but sadly, film and photographic paper will be expensive and hard to get.


RS: What have been some of the most memorable events of your career?

AA: I was elated when Peter Galassi of the Museum of Modern Art bought two prints from my "Inconvenience of Being Born" series and one of them opened the 1997 exhibit, "Recent Acquisitions: American Photography." Also, I was thrilled when Richard Avedon chose me as his protégé for Aperture Magazine’s Issue #151: ‘Photographers on Photographers’ and wrote so eloquently about my work.  

The definition of publishing has been reinvented working with Welcome Books, most notably, designer Gregory Wakabayashi and editor Katrina Fried, who continue to inspire and amaze.  

A Scene from "Sweeney Todd"

Making "On the Street: The Documentary" with John Spellos about the people I photographed in the 80’s for the Village Voice and where they are now, has been surprising in that we started the project as a treasure hunt and the meaning of the film revealed itself in the process of working on it.  

Getting a rave review of my recent book, The Fourth Wall, in The New Yorker has been a tremendous validation.  


RS: Yes, Hilton Als has written in his review of The Fourth Wall for The New Yorker that it is your "masterpiece." Congratulations.  Did you begin taking photographs of actors with this book in mind, or were these assignments, which then came together as an idea for a book?  How did you decide to photograph most of the actors off-stage but somewhat in character?  Did they respond positively to this concept?  Was this book easier to get published since you had already published On The Street?

AA: Years ago I photographed at The Hamptons Shakespeare Festival in Montauk where the plays were performed outdoors in Theodore Roosevelt County Park. There was something magical about seeing a fictional character out in the real world under the stars. But it wasn’t until I photographed at a matinee performance of ‘Guys and Dolls’ at The Interact Theater Company in Los Angeles that I knew this was a project I wanted to pursue.

The images questioned the notion of identity. Every actor had a unique response to taking their character to the streets. Years later, Jody Quon of New York Magazine commissioned many of these portraits for their theater section. I was delighted that Welcome Books decided to publish The Fourth Wall because working with them on On The Street was so rewarding.

Cover of "On the Street"

RS: Where do you see your work going in the future?

AA: I’ve been too busy to work on my personal projects but I was just offered a dream advertising job. Stay tuned.  



Terms and Conditions:
All photographs are the sole intellectual property of Amy Arbus and are protected under United States and international copyright laws. They are for one time use only and may not be copied, transmitted, published, reproduced, stored, manipulated, projected or altered in any way, including without limitation to any digitization or synthesizing of the images, alone or with any other material, by use of computer or other electronic means or any other method or means now or hereafter known, without the written permission of Amy Arbus, who may require payment of a usage fee. Please note that use of any image as the basis for another photographic concept, illustration or other visual work is a violation of copyright.











To see more of Amy's photographs:
http://www.amyarbus.com
Signed books available at:
http://welcomebookstore.com/on-the-street.html
http://welcomebookstore.com/the-fourth-wall-bpreorderb.html

For Advertising Commissions:       
frank@meorepresents.com
jennifer@meorepresents.com
http://www.meorepresents.com/gallery.php?artist=44&first=Amy&last=Arbus&

For Editorial and Personal Commissions:      
Angelo DiStefano
adistefano@pwes.com      
     
For Print Sales:      
John Spellos
info@AnthropyArts.com
http://www.anthropyarts.com/arbus/index.php
or
Mike Carroll
mike@schoolhouseprovincetown.com
http://www.schoolhouseprovincetown.com/arbus/arbus.html

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Robert A. Schaefer, Jr. is a founding member of Photoworkshop.com, and has been a photographer for over 30 years. His work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York as well as the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris, France.  Most recently he had a one-person exhibition (November 10, 2007 to January 8, 2008) at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in Montgomery, Alabama. This work is a body of documentary images of a farmer in North Alabama where Schaefer grew up. He writes about photography for Double Exposure and The Photo Review in Pennsylvania.  He teaches photography in the Department of Continuing and Professional Studies at New York University. His work is represented by the Domeischel Gallery, Ltd. in New York City and the DeFrog Gallery in Houston,Texas.
 
Robert can be contacted at rasjrpro@earthlink.net  and www.schaeferphoto.com

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CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF AMY ARBUS' PHOTOGRAPHS

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