PRESENTATION HOUSE HOSTS DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHER

NORTH VANCOUVER’S Presentation House is to be the
only venue in Canada to host a photo exhibition by the

renowned American photographic artist Diane Arbus.

“It covers the luminaries of
theatre, fashion, high society, lit-
erature and film,’’ acting gallery
director Patrick Traer says of the
touring exhibit.

Arbus is described as one of the
top three documentary
photographers of the post-war era.
Her work includes stark, honest
looks at the edge of society.

In 1971, after 11 years of
published works, she committed
suicide at age 38.

In the 1960s, Arbus was com-
missioned to photograph for such
top magazines as Esquire and
Harper’s Bazaar. This exhibit is a
collection of these works. .

Not all the photos were publish-
ed but “they were all commission-
ed works.”

Organized by the Spencer
Museum of Art in Kansas, the
show is the first major exhibition
of her magazine works since a
posthumous retrospective in 1972.

“We're very lucky to get this

By STEPHEN BARRINGTON
News Reporter :

exhibition,” Presentation
House's Traer.

In the Diane Arbus: Magazine
Work exhibition, viewers get a new

look at some of the decade’s

says

famous and perhaps should-be-

famous people and newsmakers.

In one work for Harper’s
Bazaar, Richard Ill and Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof actress Mildred
Dunnock poses in fur-coat and
baggy nylons in a deserted city
park. .

In another, work, angelic blonde
heiress Mia Villiers-Farrow sits
partially undressed, posing a little
girlishly on the edge of her queen-
sized bed.

Exhibition curator Thomas
Southall has called all the show's
portraits ‘‘a product of an intense,
personal encounter between Arbus
and her sitter.”’

For Presentation House, an ex-
hibit of this stature reaffirms the
gallery’s reputation in the interna-
tional photographic community,
Traer explains.

Putting the small North Van-
couver gallery in an elite league
with the St. Louis and

‘Philadelphia art galleries, the ex-

hibit is somewhat of a coup.

Gallery director Karen Love
began lobbying for the exhibition
when the show began touring in
1984. ‘‘Karen has been writing for
some time,’’ Traer said.

“She was determined to get (the
show) here since the exhibition
began.”’

But Traer has some words for
local residents. ‘‘1 don’t think res-
idents are aware of how well Pres-
entation House gallery is known in
the photographic community,’’ he
said. ‘‘Residents...should come
and take advantage of it.”

Starting April 22, the exhibition
runs to May 3! and marks the last
of 14 stops on the tour. After this,
the exhibit is scheduled to be
dismantled.

“It’s the last time you’re going
to be able to see it,’’ added Traer.

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13 - Friday, April 17, 1987 - North Shore News

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photos by Diane Arbus

A POSTHUMOUS exhibit of works by American documentary
photographer Diane Arbus will show at Presentation House from April
22 to May 31. The !eft photograph is of Ozzie and Harriet Netson, tete-
vision stars of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet in the back yard of
their Cape Cod style home in Beverly Hills, published in The Happy,
Happy, Happy Nelsons for Esquire, June 1971. Above, is a photo of ac-
tress Jayne Mansfield Climber-Ottaviano with daughter Jayne Marie.
This photo was part of a photo essay titled Familial Colloquies for Es-
quire, July 1965.

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