Diane Arbus: ‘Tattooed Man at a Carnival, Md. 1970"

Diane Arbus(1923-1971)  was a very unique photographer from America. She was well known for their controversial and disturbing style of portraits of people from the edge of society. She learns the trade of photography from her husband, Allan Arbus.  "At age 18 she married Allan Arbus (divorced 1969), an employee at her family’s store " (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2019b) In this post, I will look at the picture of "Tattooed Man at a Carnival, Md. 1970"

                                     Tattooed Man at a Carnival, Md. 1970’ by Diana Arbus

The portrait of  "Tattooed Man at a Carnival, Md. 1970" When I looked first time at this portrait, my first thought was that this gentleman was very unique with his Viking warrior style Tattoos and his crazy eyes but also one of the Tattoo on his chest I can guess it meant to be dove sign of hope but tattoo on his forehead destroy all hope what he probably had before in his life. The eye level of the composition suggests that Arbus was equal to her models; moreover, Arbus's use in the composition piece of the Cyrcus  and the flags is the statement that some people were freaks in 

Arbus, D. (1970). ‘Tattooed Man at a Carnival, Md. 1970’. Available at: https://www.opnminded.com/2017/11/02/diane-arbus-photographe-freaks.html [Accessed 5 Apr. 2024].

Arbus, D. (1970b). Tattooed man at a carnival, Md. 1970 | National Galleries of Scotland. [online] www.nationalgalleries.org. Available at: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/92901/tattooed-man-carnival-md-1970.

The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica (2019). Diane Arbus | American photographer. In: Encyclopædia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Diane-Arbus.