Diane and her parents posing for the Journal American. They had just returned from Europe.
The beautiful Gertrude Russek Nemerov.
Gertrude made this collage of the Nemerovs and the Russeks. Clockwise: Grandfather Frank Russek, Howard with his arm around Frank, Diane in a hat, Renée dancing with David, Grandmother Rose Russek, Frank again, David after becoming president of Russeks Fifth Avenue, Gertrude, and Howard in Royal Canadian Air Force uniform.
Howard during World War II. He was a pilot and flew fifty missions with the RAF and later fifty-seven bombing missions over the North Sea with the Eighth U.S. Army Airforce.
Roy and Renée Sparkia shortly after their marriage.
BECOMES ENGAGED
A. F. Arbus to Wed Miss Diane Nemerov
Mr. and Mrs. David Nemerov of 888 Park avenue have announced the engagement of their daughter, Miss Diane Nemerov, to Allan Franklin Arbus, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Arbus of 1225 Park avenue.
Miss Nemerov is a graduate of Fieldston School. Her father is executive vice-president of Russeks Fifth Avenue.
Mr. Arbus attended the College of the City of New York and is now in the advertising business.
Mr. & Mrs. Inc.
Case histories of seven married couples who are collaborating on joint careers in the arts, the sciences and business.
Diane and Allan Arbus found their forte in photography. They’ve known each other since their early teens, married young, and arrived at their chosen work only after sampling other careers. While Allan was working in advertising, he came into contact with fashion photographers and became a zealot. His enthusiasm converted Diane and they were soon planning, taking and printing pictures almost on a 24 hour a day basis. They began to specialize in fashions, established their own studio, and landed a large New York store account. They study their files of pictures constantly, seeking new design ideas and improvements. Working very slowly and carefully, they compose in the camera instead of relying largely on cropping and other mechanical photographic tricks. Result, a distinctive Arbus quality which includes elements of portraiture and fantasy.
A feature article that ran in Glamour magazine in 1947 shortly after Diane and Allan became partners in fashion photography.
Diane posing with her daughter Doon, who occasionally modeled for her parents.
Diane and Allan, from a 1951 article in Glamour entitled “I Love You Because…” Photograph by Frances McLaughlin-Gill.
Anne Dick and Alex Eliot, ca. 1940
Alex Eliot.
Jane Winslow Eliot.
Art director and painter Marvin Israel (right) with photographer Peter Beard at the International Center for Photography. Photograph by Orn R. Langelle.
Diane’s teacher, the photographer Lisette Model. David Vestal took this portrait in 1964.
Diane with an art student, Basha Poindexter. They had been part of an anti-Vietnam War demonstration which ended in Central Park.
Diane (left) teaching students at one of the small classes she sometimes organized.
Allan Arbus (left) and Mariclare Costello talking with Howard Nemerov at the opening of the “New Documents” show at the Museum of Modern Art in 1967. Diane is watching them. Photograph by George Cserna from the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Diane in 1971, by Eva Rubinstein. She had given Eva an assignment “to take a picture of something or somebody you’ve never taken before or are afraid or in awe of…”
Notes and Sources
Chapter 1
page
3 “I wanted to see…”: Marvin Israel, “Diane Arbus,” Infinity, Nov. 1972.
3 “a family of Jewish aristocrats”: John Putnam to PB, interview, July 1, 1979.
3 Information on the history of Russeks department store gathered from interviews with Gertrude Russek Nemerov, Howard Nemerov, Renée Nemerov Sparkia, Walter Weinstein, Arthur Weinstein, and Ben Lichtenstein, and from the Women’s Wear Daily archives.
7 “the snappiest of all of retail”: Andrew Goodman to PB, interview, Sept. 8, 1978.
7 “Russeks survived…”: Ben Lichtenstein to PB, interview, May 7, 1979.
“There was always…”: Eleanor Lambert to PB, interview, January 25, 1979.
“We were the largest buyers…”: Ben Lichtenstein to PB, interview, May 7, 1979. 8 “With money…”: Ibid.
8 “He had Russeks’ accountant…”: Ibid.
8 “My father and David…”: Walter Weinstein to PB, interview, Feb. 18, 1980.
Chapter 2
9 “they pronounced it that way…”: Gertrude Nemerov to PB, interview, July 21, 1978.
9 “Even as a baby…”: Ibid.
9 “cranky—always crying…”: from DA, unfinished Fieldston autobiography.
9 “It was almost always dark…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 19, 1978.
10 “She had a hard sad quite lovely face…”: from DA, unfinished Fieldston autobiography.
10 “this image wasn’t concrete…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
10 “who had a terrific…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 19, 1978.
10 “a hard time figuring out…”: Gertrude Nemerov to PB, interview, July 19, 1978.
10 “But she makes…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
11 “You can look at De Pinna and Bonwit’s…”: Ibid.
11 “rubbing their hands together…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
11 “I was treated like a crummy princess”: Frederick Eberstadt to PB, interview, Feb. 5, 1979.
12 “were both insulting and hurtful…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
12 “an overtly powerful…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 20, 1978.
12 “We were protected and privileged…”: Ibid.
13 “In early life…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life (Rutgers University Press, 1965), p. 84.
13 “And I for one…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 19, 1978.
13 “My motto was…”: Ibid.
13 “We didn’t ‘explain’…”: Ibid.
13 “My mother used to…”: Ibid.
14 “[we sat] together…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life, p. 77.
14 “A little, a very little…”: Ibid, p. 79.
14 “An Old Picture”: The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov (University of Chicago Press, 1977), p. 129.
14 “The anecdote of the poem…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life, p. 77.
Chapter 3
15 “Exasperated Boy with Toy Hand Grenade”: Life Library of Photography: Ten Personal Styles, p. 222.
15 “[since] I was such a rich kid…”: Ibid.
15 “Diane was my idol…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
15 “No, no, it shouldn’t…”: Ibid.
16 “There was this dentist…”: Ibid.
16 “It frequently crossed…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life (Rutgers University Press, 1965), p. 125.
16 “The artistic development of each student…”: Elbert Lenrow to PB, interview, September5, 1978.
16 “Diane Nemerov demonstrates…”: from Fieldston School file, Diane Nemerov.
17 “I refused to keep clean”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
17 “The teachers always used to think…”: DA, unfinished Fieldston autobiography.
17 “It was essentially dreary…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
17 “Please no more”: Dorothy Evslin to PB, interview, May 8, 1979.
18 “I ohhed and ahhed…”: Ibid.
18 “ ‘Most of them…’ ”: Ibid.
18 “I remember vaguely…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
18 “don’t lower…”: George Radkai to PB, interview, Jan. 15, 1979
18 “Once they displayed…”: Ibid.
19 “we’re predominantly…”: Arthur Weinstein to PB, interview, July 19,
1983.
20 “I never knew I was Jewish…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
20 “It’s irrational to be born…”: DA to Ann Ray Martin, interview, March 20, 1967. 20 “Stubborn and stiff-necked man! …”: “Debate with the Rabbi,” The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov (University of Chicago Press, 1977), p. 270.
Chapter 4
22 “to make some mind…”: “Beginner’s Guide,” The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov (University of Chicago Press, 1977), p. 444.
22 “even though a friend…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 20, 1978.
22 “à la Lillian Gish…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
22 “He got every Hungarian artist…”: John Pauker to PB, interview, May 23, 1981.
22 “a basso…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 20, 1978.
23 “Mommy ridiculed me…”: Ibid.
23 “nurse who taught me…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life (Rutgers University Press, 1965), p. 74.
23 “Diane and I were as intimate…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12,
1979.
23 “Obviously Diane possessed a gift…”: Victor D’Amico to PB, interview, July 29, 1980.
23 “Once I gave her class…”: Ibid.
24 “the first one to do it…”: DA, unfinished Fieldston autobiography.
24 “based on exclusion…”: Naomi Rosenbloom to PB, interview, Feb. 16, 1980.
24 “Diane would float away…”: Hallie Baldwin to PB, phone interview, Oct. 20, 1982.
24 “They were married lovers”: Naomi Rosenbloom to PB, interview, Feb. 16, 1980.
24 “Love involves a peculiar…”: Life Library of Photography: Responding to a Subject, p. 110.
25 “But, darling, what is it…”: Dorothy Evslin to PB, interview, May 8, 1979.
25 “secret, invisible…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life, p. 84.
25 “That’s my most vivid memory…”: John Pauker to PB, interview, May 23, 1981.
25 “Gertrude was deep down…”: Lillian Weinstein to PB, interview, Aug. 10, 1983.
25 “He was fantastic…”: DA to Studs Terkel, Dec. 1969.
26 “a businessman must be ruthless…”: Nate Cummings to PB, interview, Aug. 10, 1969.
26 “we’d play cards…”: Nate Cummings to PB, interview, Aug. 10, 1979.
26 “lost the entire chain…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 11, 1979.
26 “Frank loved to gamble…”: Walter Weinstein to PB, interview, Feb. 2, 1981.
26 “so I kept quiet…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 19, 1978.
27 “I was ashamed…”: DA, unfinished Fieldston autobiography.
27 “We were a family of silences…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
27 “Mr. Nemerov dropped in…”: Judy Freed to PB, interview, April 2, 1980.
27 “Diane didn’t seem to belong…”: Phyllis Carton to PB, interview, April 16, 1980.
27 “Diane was definitely his favorite…”: Helen Quat to PB, interview, June 1978.
28 “Dreamt and wished”: DA, unfinished Fieldston autobiography.
28 “very much even though…”: Ibid.
Chapter 5
30 “One of the things I suffered from…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
30 “impulsively—in the Bronx…”: Phyllis Carton to PB, interview, April 15, 1980.
31 “Because everything in life…”: Ibid.
31 “We’d crowd into the Eighth Avenue express…”: Hilda Belle Rosenfield to PB interview, April 1979.
31 “I must have counted…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
32 “She had a talent…”: Victor D’Amico to PB, interview, July 29, 1980.
32 “Maybe about Käthe Kollwitz…”: Ibid.
32 “We felt like phonies…”: Phyllis Carton to PB, interview, April 15, 1980.
32 “Not for long periods…”: Victor D’Amico to PB, interview, July 29, 1980.
33 “They’re my children. Buddy…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
33 “Dorothy was probably…”: Ben Lichtenstein to PB, interview, Jan. 1979.
33 “painfully shy…”: Ibid.
33 “As a clan…”: Lureen Arbus to PB, interview, March 6, 1980.
33 “Allan was bright…”: Arthur Weinstein to PB, interview, July 19, 1983.
33 “Allan wanted to be an actor…”: Ibid.
33 “the best actor…”: Seymour Peck to PB, interview, Oct. 17, 1979.
34 “then fell madly in love…”: Tina Fredericks to PB, interview, Oct. 23, 1979.
34 “take Diane out…”: Arthur Weinstein to PB, interview, July 19, 1983.
34 “Allan became the most…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
“And then the oddest…”: Naomi Rosenbloom to PB, interview, Feb. 16, 1980.
35 “with a religious guilt…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life (Rutgers University Press, 1965), p. 138.
35 “I thought it was a proud, odd household”: Hilda Belle Rosenfield to PB, interview, April 1979.
35 “It was David’s way…”: Ben Lichtenstein to PB, interview, May 7, 1979.
35 “Diane and I learned…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
36 “I could tell Diane…”: Gertrude Nemerov to PB, interview, July 29, 1978.
36 “All I know is…”: Ibid.
36 “but nobody could diagnose…”: Ibid.
36 “He was oily…”: Ibid.
36 “to treat me in our cabin…”: Ibid.
Chapter 6
38 “It never occurred to Aunt Gertrude…”: Dorothy Evslin to PB, interview, May 8, 1979.
38 “There were a lot of boys…”: Eda LeShan to PB, interview, Dec. 11, 1979.
38 “I’ve never seen anyone…”: Helen Quat to PB, interview, July 1978.
38 “I absolutely hated furs…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
38 “And I would cry”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 21, 1978.
39 “David did everything…”: George Radkai to PB, interview, Jan. 1981.
39 “A lot of yearning…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
39 ”Diane’s thick brown hair…”: Clara Park to PB, phone interview, Aug. 19, 1981.
40 “It was the most rapturous portrait…”: Dorothy Evslin to PB, interview, May 8, 1979.
40 “Diane retaliated…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
40 “Make Diane stop…”: Victor D’Amico to PB, interview, July 29, 1980.
40 “in order to get close to nature…”: Harvey Shapiro to PB, phone interview, Aug. 20, 1978.
41 “a beaming wunderkind…”: Cranston Jones to PB, phone interview, Oct. 10, 1979.
41 “She thought everything I did…”: Alex Eliot to PB, interview, April 21, 1979.
41 “Her physical presence…”: Ibid.
41 “I told her, ‘I noticed you…’ ”: Ibid.
42 “The minute I saw it…”: Ibid.
42 “The emotion, the colors, the textures…”: Ibid.
42 “It was a tiny, eerie place…”: Louise Bernikow to PB, interview, June 5, 1980.
42 “It was a sweaty Sunday afternoon…”: Alexander Eliot, Zen Edge (Seabury Press, 1979), p. 66.
43 “Diane had a funny breastbone”: Alex Eliot to PB, interview, April 12, 1979.
43 “Diane was wondrously strange…”: Ibid.
43 “Your father reminds me…”: Ibid.
44 “She had told me…”: Ibid.
44 “tender but dominating…”: Ibid.
44 “Howard was a golden light…”: Clara Park to PB, phone interview, Aug. 19, 1981.
44 “Howard wasn’t going to be a poet…”: Ibid.
44 “Writing was for me at the beginning…”: Howard Nemerov, Journal of the Fictive Life (Rutgers University Press, 1965), p. 13.
45 “spiritual fathers”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 21, 1978.
45 “Howard was absolutely crushed…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
45 “A crowded affair…”: Alex Eliot to PB, interview, April 21, 1979.
46 “we became as close as brothers…”: Ibid.
46 “Because, no matter how well we thought…”: Ibid.
46 “Always surprising…”: Ibid.
46 “I’m just going to hold her back…”: Ibid.
47 “If you say that…”: Frank Parker to PB, interview, Nov. 16, 1982.
47 “Getting married was essential…”: Ibid.
Chapter 7
49 “trotting over to me during recess…”: Naomi Rosenbloom to PB, interview, Feb. 16, 1980.
49 “For about four years…”: DA, unfinished Fieldston autobiography.
49 “because she wouldn’t accept…”: Elbert Lenrow to PB, interview, July 1979.
49 “We talked…”: Phyllis Carton to PB, interview, April 15, 1980.
49 “We were passionate…”: Eda LeShan to PB, interview, Dec. 12, 1979.
49 “Falling in love…”: Phyllis Carton to PB, interview, April 15, 1980.
50 “It was very strong…”: Ibid.
50 “Her talent was very special”: Victor D’Amico to PB, interview, July 29, 1980.
50 “to live under the wing…”: DA to Studs Terkel, interview, Dec. 1969.
50 “Mommy and Daddy were going to…”: Renée Sparkia to PB, interview, March 12, 1979.
51 “the deep selfish slowness of woman…”: DA, Fieldston essay.
51 “Diane was simply scared stiff…”: Phyllis Carton to PB, interview, April 15, 1980.
51 “She dragged herself around…”: Elbert Lenrow to PB, interview, July 30, 1978.
52 “She seems very troubled…”: Ibid.
52 “She told me…”: Howard Nemerov to PB, interview, July 21, 1978.
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