Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J.
Artist
Diane Arbus
(American, 1923–1971)
Date1967
Mediumgelatin silver print
Dimensions37.6 x 38.1 cm (image)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Hall James Peterson
Object number1974.29
Label TextPerhaps more so than any photographer of the twentieth century, Diane Arbus’s work is openly described as strange by viewers and art historians. Her preference for photographing circus performers, and the differently-abled has provoked adoration and ire from prominent critics. Supporters attest that her works possess poetic empathy, whereas critics like Susan Sontag called Arbus’s work exploitative of the “pitiable, pathetic, as well as repulsive.”
One of her most famous photographs, Identical Twins, depicts seven-year-old sisters Cathleen and Colleen Ward. Posed against a wall in matching dresses with their arms seemingly one, the girls are eerily alike—aside from a slight frown on one and a foreboding smile on the other. Their father, Bob Ward, thought it was one of the worst photographs ever taken of his daughters.
ProvenanceGift of Mr. and Mrs. James Hall Peterson, Clamber Hill, Petersham, MAOn View
Not on view
