Lot #304: DIANE ARBUS - Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in the Bronx, New York - Original photogravure

 

Artist: Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971).
Title: "Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in the Bronx, New York [Eddie Carmel]".
Medium: Original photogravure.
Date: Composed 1970. Printed 1978.
Dimensions: Overall size: 15 3/4 x 11 5/8 in. (400 x 295 mm). Image size: 10 1/16 x 9 15/16 in. (256 x 252 mm).
Lot Note(s): Stamped with the photographer's name, verso. High-grade archival paper. Ample margins. Fine, quality printing. Very good to fine condition. Comment(s): This edition authorized and supervised by Doon Arbus. Acording to “Gordon’s Photography Prices” the auction record for a silver print of this image is $583,500 realized at Christie's, New York, 5/17/2017, lot #25B. This is one of Arbus’s most famous pictures and one of her best-known subjects – a ‘Jewish giant’ named Eddie Carmel. Carmel worked in carnival sideshows and as an actor in monster B-movies. Arbus photographed him a number of times and described the family dynamics: "The parents are orthodox and repressive and disapprove of his carnival career … When he stands with his arms around each he looks like he would gladly crush them. They fight terribly in an utterly typical fashion which seems only exaggerated by their tragedy." True to her description, this could be a conventional family portrait, were it not for the apparent look of fear in Mrs. Carmel’s face as she looks up at her son, who stands cramped and bowed by the traditional family sitting room (courtesy National Galleries of Scotland). A wonderful article on this photograph and the relationship between Arbus and The Jewish Giant can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/13/arts/design/diane-arbus-recorded-a-bronx-familys-unsettling-dynamic.html?_r=0. Image copyright © 1972 The Estate of Diane Arbus, LLC. [27156-3-800]