Diane Arbus: Constellation, an exhibition at the Luma Foundation in Arles, France

Full review in The Guardian

Diane Arbus: Constellation, an exhibition at the Luma Foundation in Arles, France, is the largest display of Arbus prints ever mounted. In 2011, Maja Hoffmann, the Swiss pharmaceutical heiress who founded Luma, purchased all 454 artist proofs made by Neil Selkirk, the sole person authorised to print Arbus negatives after her suicide in 1971. At the suggestion of Luma photography curator Matthieu Humery, Hoffman is displaying all the photos for the first time, to mark the centenary of Arbus’s birth.

Wow. Wish I could go. I wonder if there'll be a book. A catalogue raisonné.

Whoa...sounds like I have a winter trip to plan I'd be also interested in the experience of seeing the photographs displayed that way...it looks wonderful in pictures.
Thanks for sharing!

Daniela said:

Whoa...sounds like I have a winter trip to plan I'd be also interested in the experience of seeing the photographs displayed that way...it looks wonderful in pictures.
Thanks for sharing!

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It's really worth seeing them. I went to the Montreal Arbus exhibition, which only had a tiny fraction of her works, and I came out of there completely bouleversé. That said, the presentation in Arles seems amazing and even more powerful than the normal museum experience.

I'll be in France in October, but in Lille, and then in Le Havre, so not even close...

Alex Benjamin said:

I came out of there completely bouleversé.

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A new term to add to my moderator's vocabulary!

Alex Benjamin said:

It's really worth seeing them. I went to the Montreal Arbus exhibition, which only had a tiny fraction of her works, and I came out of there completely bouleversé. That said, the presentation in Arles seems amazing and even more powerful than the normal museum experience.

I'll be in France in October, but in Lille, and then in Le Havre, so not even close...

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It's a 7-hour train ride from Le Havre to Arles if you can make a bit of a detour.

Pieter12 said:

It's a 7-hour train ride from Le Havre to Arles if you can make a bit of a detour.

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Or you can fly to Nimes or Montpellier and then take a train. Arles and the Camargue region are pretty awesome!

Pieter12 said:

It's a 7-hour train ride from Le Havre to Arles if you can make a bit of a detour.

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Daniela said:

Or you can fly to Nimes or Montpellier and then take a train. Arles and the Camargue region are pretty awesome!

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I'm really happy I didn't put you two in charge of my credit card expenses...

But the entrance to the exhibition is free!

Daniela said:

But the entrance to the exhibition is free!

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But in reality it is a Hotel California, you can check out at any time, but you cannot leave!

Is this in conjunction with the annual Arles photo-fest thing?

Arthurwg said:

Is this in conjunction with the annual Arles photo-fest thing?

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Yes, part of Les rencontres de la photographie.


There's also a Saul Leiter expo there, amongst many other really interesting stuff.

Was there the opening week of the rencontres and this show was absolutely amazing with a lot of never seen before pictures.
Saul Leiter show was also terrific.

I just saw this post and the name, "Arbus" perked my curiosity. I knew that Alan Arbus the actor who played the traveling psychiatrist on the old M*A*S*H television series was a photographer too. I see where Diane was his wife from 1941-1969.

Finally had a chance to visit this exhibition, and it was wonderful. The display was great, and I learned that it mimicked her artistic approach. I had also never seen her photographs of elderly upper class ladies in their bedrooms and I really liked them. I certainly feel like I know her work better now and connect to it differently.

Also, LUMA is a great place to visit, even in low season when there were only a few exhibits. I can't imagine what it must be like during the rencontres. One other experience I liked was Philippe Parreno's "Danny, No More Reality". I won't say anything because I walked in there without a clue about what it was about and I left 2 hours later confused and elated and so many other things At some point, a group of kids came in, and there was a little boy who kept saying "c'est un truc de fou!" (this is crazy!) and I couldn't stop laughing. I recommend going in without reading about it!