Diane Arbus

John P. Jacob

In 1971, with an advertisement in the June issue of Artforum, Diane Arbus announced the offering of her limited-edition portfolio, A box of ten photographs. At the time of her death, one month later, only four were sold. Two were purchased from Arbus by Richard Avedon; another by Jasper Johns. The last of the four was purchased by Bea Feitler, art director at Harper's Bazaar. Arbus signed the prints in all four sets, and each was accompanied by an overlying vellum sheet inscribed with an extended caption. For Feitler, Arbus added an eleventh photograph. This is the first publication to focus exclusively on A box of ten photographs, using the eleven-print set that Arbus assembled for Feitler. It was acquired by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., in 1986, and is the only one of the four portfolios completed and sold by Arbus that is publicly held. This publication examines this unique object as the sole body of images selected by Arbus herself, and considers its legacy as a key document of her enduring impact on contemporary photographic practice. An in-depth essay features new and compelling scholarship by John P. Jacob, the McEvoy Family Curator for Photography at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Diane Arbus: A box of ten photographs, on view at the museum from April through September of 2018.

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