Live Auction 7584Photographs
DIANE ARBUS (1923-1971)
Lot 58 For me the subject of the picture is always more important than the picture. And more complicated. I really think what it is, is what it's about. I mean it has to be of something. And what it's of is always more remarkable than what it is.

DIANE ARBUS, 1971

DIANE ARBUS (1923-1971)

Xmas tree in a living room, Levittown, L.I., 1963

Closed15 May 2008

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DIANE ARBUS (1923-1971)
Xmas tree in a living room, Levittown, L.I., 1963
gelatin silver print
annotated 'The opinion of The Estate of Diane Arbus regarding this Diane Arbus print is contained in a letter from the Estate dated April 26, 2006' by Doon Arbus, Executor, in ink on verso
14½ x 14½in. (36.8 x 36.8cm.)

Gift of the artist to Andrew Sarchiapone, composer and friend, 1970;
acquired by present owner, 2001.

Sarchiapone was a close friend and neighbour of Diane Arbus at Westbeth in New York City, an artistic community in a converted telephone company building which provided affordable living and working spaces for visual, performing and literary artists.

Specialist note

'An immobile image of the lifeless quality of mechanically celebrated holidays, this acid photograph was taken at a suburban housing development on Long Island. The expensive furnishings and the plentiful presents indicate the prosperity of the inhabitants, but the antiseptic arrangement suggests a spiritual coldness at odds with the open-hearted love and honor Christmas gifts should represent. For all the neatness of the room, the clocks do not agree.' (Documentary Photography, p.203)

This work is accompanied by a letter of authentication, dated 26 April 2006, from The Estate of Diane Arbus confirming this print was made by Arbus (illus).