DIANE ARBUS (1923-1971)/NEIL SELKIRK (B. 1947)

(New York, 1970, an edition of 50), a portfolio of 10 photographs, each signed, titled, dated, and numbered '23/50' by the photographer's daughter, Doon Arbus, in ink and with Selkirk's printing notations in pencil and with the portfolio and Arbus Estate reproduction rights stamps on the reverse, 1963-70, printed in the early 1970s by Neil Selkirk from DIANE ARBUS's negatives; together with the title printed with 'A Box of Ten Photographs' and the photographer's signature and date in facsimile, and individual interleaves printed with the photographer's facsimile captions and dates. Folio, in the original clear Plexiglas box, no. 23 in an edition of 50

PROVENANCE

Acquired by the present owner from Witkin Gallery, New York, 11 January 1975

CATALOGUE NOTE

'A Jewish Giant at Home with his Parents in the Bronx, N.Y., 1970'

'Boy with a Straw Hat Waiting to March in a Pro-War Parade, N.Y.C., 1967'

'A Family on Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, N.Y., 1968'

'The King and Queen of a Senior Citizens Dance, N.Y.C., 1970'

'Mexican Dwarf in his Hotel Room in N. Y. C., 1970'

'Xmas Tree in a Living Room in Levittown, L. I., 1963'

'Identical Twins, Roselle, N. J., 1967'

'Retired Man and His Wife at Home in a Nudist Camp one Morning, N. J., 1963'

'A Young Man in Curlers at Home on West 20^th Street, N. Y. C., 1966'

'A Young Brooklyn Family Going for a Sunday Outing, N. Y. C., 1966'

Diane Arbus began work on A Box of Ten Photographs, her only portfolio, in 1969. At the time of her death in 1971, she had completed the prints for eleven or twelve portfolios, although she did not sign the prints until they were sold. Four sets of the portfolio, assembled and signed by Arbus, have been located. Of these original sets, one was purchased by Richard Avedon as a gift for Mike Nichols; Arbus gave another set, with an extra photograph, to Avedon; a third portfolio, also with an extra photograph, was sold to art director Bea Feitler and is now in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; and a fourth was purchased by artist Jasper Johns. After Arbus’s death, her estate designated the remaining extant prints as artist’s proofs, and completed the intended edition of fifty portfolios with prints made by Neil Selkirk (cf. Revelations, pp. 220 and 343).

Arbus worked on the selection of the images and the design of the portfolio with Marvin Israel. The final selection of photographs, with its pairing of older and quite recent images, served for Arbus as a statement of her achievement in photography thus far. The clear Plexiglas box designed by Israel functioned not only as safe storage for the prints, but could also be used to display any one of the ten photographs.