You may have heard that there is new movie coming November 10th called “Fur”. It’s an homage or tribute to Diane Arbus. Click on the link above ,and you can also see a trailer for the movie.
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From what we can tell from various posts, it is a mix of truth and fantasy about this incredibly talented, troubled photographer. The director of SECRETARY, Steven Shainberg, is at the helm. He seems to take the life of a conventional woman of the late 50′s and we watch as she discovers her innate talent and dark obsessions.

Produced by Picturehouse films, a studio making some of the higher quality thoughful films recently.

Honestly can’t wait to see what they do with this. Its supposed to open the Rome Film Festival in Oct.

In the last couple of years there has been a traveling exhibition recounting Diane Arbus’ life told not only in framed images, but in the elements of her bookshelves, her darkroom apparatus, contact sheet, and her cameras.

One of the most moving parts of the exhibit is the series of personal letters to her friends and family. The final one to her daughter is dated on July 26, 1971, the day of her suicide.

If you were not able to get to the show, called Diane Arbus Revelations ,you must pick up the catalog. Or the perhaps the book the movie was based on by Patrica Bosworth.

Back to the movie, which also stars Robert Downey ,Jr.,Here is another link to the movie which gives you some background and updates. The official site “Fur” is not quite built yet but we’ll keep you up to date.

Diane Arbus has always been one of my favorite artists. Her monograph has a place of honor on my shelves, and has for many years.
But its a collection I can look at maybe once a year.
The hard truth of the images have an impact that lasts for a very long time.
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I will never forget waking up on my birthday only to learn that she had taken her life on that day. Perhaps thats another reason the book comes off the shelf once a year.

Lets all hope that the film makers have created a respectful representational treatment of the elements of her life.

cheers
Damon Webster

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 3rd, 2006 at 9:35 pm and is filed under Photo News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.