Diane Arbus (1923-1971)
'Family On The Lawn One Sunday In Westchester, N.Y.', 1968
Gelatin silver print; signed, titled, dated, and inscribed 'Thanks, David. Diane' in ink on the reverse, framed.
16 1/8 x 15 1/4 in. (41 x 38.7 cm.)
sheet 19 3/4 x 16 in. (50.2 x 40.6 cm.)
Footnotes:
Provenance
The photographer to David Shainberg, circa 1968
By descent to the present owner

Literature
Diane Arbus, 'Two American Families,' Sunday Times Magazine, 10 November 1968, p. 56
Diane Arbus (Aperture, 1972), unpaginated
The Graham Nash Collection (Los Angeles, 1978), p. 13
Thomas W. Southall, Diane Arbus Magazine Work (Aperture, 1984), pp. 106-7
Daniel Wolf, The Art of Photography, 1839-1989 (New Haven, 1989), pl. 329
Diane Arbus: Revelations (New York, 2003), p. 329

Note
In a 1968 missive to her editor at the London-based Sunday Times Magazine, Diane Arbus mused, 'I have been wanting to do families. I stopped two elderly sisters the other day ... and especially there is a woman I stopped in a bookstore who lives in Westchester which is Upper Suburbia. She is about 35 with terribly blonde hair and enormously eyelashed and booted and probably married to a dress manufacturer or restaurateur and I said I wanted to photograph her with husband and children so she suggested I wait till warm weather so I can do it around the pool! Last weekend wasn't warm weather, but the next day may be. They are a fascinating family. I think all families are creepy in a way.'

The resulting photoshoot was published in the magazine's 10 November 1968 issue to illustrate the article 'Two American Families.' A two-page spread featured side-by-side images: A Family On Their Lawn, Westchester, N. Y., 1968 (the present lot) and A Young Brooklyn Family Going For A Sunday Outing, N. Y. C., 1966. The caption beneath the former identifies the family on their lawn as Nat and June Tarnopol with their four-year-old son Paul. Of the trio, Arbus remarked, 'They are an upper middle-class family, Mr. Tarnopol being a successful agent and publisher in the pop music business. I think it's such an odd photograph, nearly like [Harold] Pinter, but not quite ... the parents seem to be dreaming the child and the child seems to be inventing them.' (excerpt from the original Sunday Times Magazine text, as reproduced in Magazine Work, 1984).

Arbus, recognizing the strength of her American Gothic tour-de-force, earmarked it for inclusion in the final selection of works for an upcoming portfolio project, A Box of Ten Photographs, begun in 1971 and designed to encompass the ten photographs that best represented the photographer's achievements. Arbus died later that same year, having only realized eight known sets of the portfolio's intended edition of fifty. Of the eight lifetime portfolios, only four had been sold before her death.

Lifetime prints of A Family on Their Lawn One Sunday in Westchester, N. Y. are exceedingly rare. At the time of this writing, it is believed that only two other lifetime prints signed by the photographer have been offered at auction.

This lifetime gelatin silver print with margins is in generally very good condition. Visible upon inspection is a sharp, 2-inch crease at the left edge of the sheet, which extends into the image and appears to break the emulsion. Upon examination under raking light, the following are visible: scattered deposits of original retouching, including areas at the left and right edges of the image, and some areas surrounding the torso and lounge chair of the female sitter; scattered tiny abrasions that may break the emulsion; and some very faint, uneven swipe marks.

The following are visible in the margins only upon examination under raking light: a 1/2-inch tear in the lower margin that has been expertly repaired; two sharp creases in the upper margin; some minor surface craquelure and some creasing across the lower two corners; some craquelure and a few tiny creases along the left and right margin edges. Scattered areas of scuffing and hairline impressions are visible in the upper and lower margins. There is some very minor soiling at the margin edges. The corners are bumped, and the paper-ply is peeling very slightly at the upper corners and lower right corner.

On the reverse, there are scattered fingerprints and soiling, largely concentrated in the lower half. Rectangular abrasions at the lower corners are possibly due to the removal of adhesive. There are scattered tiny, rust-colored deposits, possibly foxing, near the lower edge.

This work has recently undergone conservation. Please contact the Photographs Department to review the treatment report. Sold framed.