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art and design

american gothic house

from american gothic, grant wood posted in art and design by chewing_the_scenery

This house in Eldon, Iowa was Grant Wood's inspiration for the backdrop of his iconic painting American Gothic. The models for the farmer and his daughter were Wood's dentist and sister. The painting is currently in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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291 gallery

from alfred stieglitz posted in art and design by prof_improbable

On November 24, 1905, the photographer Alfred Stieglitz opened a photography gallery originally known as the "Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession."

One of the first permanent photo-galleries in New York City, it closed its doors in 1908, reopening later that year as simply "291." Stieglitz organized some of the first American showings by artists such as Rodin and Matisse. From this location, he published his legendary photo journal Camera Work, and twelve issues of 291. In June 1917, Stieglitz closed down the 291.

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diane arbus apartment

from diane arbus posted in art and design by donkeyoti

According to the book Hubert's Freaks, Diane Arbus lived at this location while photographing sideshow acts at Hubert's Museum between 1959 and 1965. She wrote her address in the contact book of the sideshow's talker, R.C. Lucas, and there are many Arbus photographs from this era that have not been released commercially because of the Arbus estate restrictions.

Although Jack Dracula worked at Hubert's, this photo was taken outside of New London, CT, where he was working as a tattoo artist. Dracula later stated that little of Arbus's description of him in the article "The Full Circle", Harper's Bazaar, November 1961, was true.

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the new school for social research

from diane arbus, lisette model posted in art and design by donkeyoti

In 1951, photographer Lisette Model was invited to teach at the New School for Social Research in New York City, where her colleague Berenice Abbott was also teaching photography.

Model's best known pupil was Diane Arbus, who studied under her in 1957.

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hubert’s museum

from diane arbus posted in art and design by donkeyoti

Hubert's Museum (or Hubert's Flea Circus, or Hubert's Sideshow) was a year-round, indoor sideshow located in Times Square. Opened in 1926 and closing in 1965, the entertainment at Hubert's was a mixture of "born freaks" and "made freaks."

By the time that photographer Diane Arbus started hanging out there, the sideshow at Hubert's had been relegated to the seedy basement of the building. Visitors were shuttled from one act to the next, forced to pay for each unusual curiosity.

Arbus met many of her photograph subjects here, spending time to get to know them individually. Eddie Carmel (from Arbus's A Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in The Bronx, N.Y. 1970) was the World's Tallest Cowboy at Hubert's. Andy Ratoucheff (from Arbus's Russian midget friends in a living room on 100th Street, N.Y.C., 1963) performed as Andy Potato Chips at Hubert's.

The "freaks" there were friends- colleagues in the entertainment business who supported each other.

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