The American photographer Diane Arbus was born as Diane Nemerov to David Nemerov and Gertrude Russek Nemerov on March 14, 1923. The Nemerovs were a wealthy Jewish couple who lived in New York City and owned Russek's, a women's clothing store on Fifth Avenue.
Diane attended the Fieldston School for Ethical Culture (also called Fieldston), an Ivy League prep school located adjacent to Central Park in Manhattan.
Fieldston's curriculum focuses on the pursuit of social justice, racial equality, and intellectual freedom. The school and the affiliated Ethical Culture Society have been havens for secular Jews who rejected the mysticism and rituals of Judaism, but accepted many of its ethical teachings.
