From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 09/19/03-12:22:20 PM Z
On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 ARTHURWG@aol.com wrote:
> I can't really see how Diane's name could possibly be mentioned along with
> Witkin, who is, IMHO, a complete psychopath and a prime candidate for expulsion
> from Plato's Republic. . As for Diane's "influences," no one has yet to
> mention Josef Breitenbach, a little-known but brilliant old-world European who
> taught photography for many years at the New School along side Diane's mentor,
> Lisette Model. The connection with Britenbach is most clearly shown in his much
> earlier pictures shot in New Jersey nudist colonies. Arthur
My photography teacher at Cooper Union in the early 1950s was Josef
Breitenbach, and I salute him as the reason I became an illustrator & then
a painter. The school had two photography teachers, but only 1 photo
course -- that is, you had one or the other and that was it.
So by the luck of the draw I got Breitenbach, who showed us nothing of his
own work, which we had no clue about. We spent most of the semester doing
photograms. (I suppose we had trays of developer for the photograms, but
no real darkroom.)
The final assignment (lasting a couple of weeks) was a lighting study of
one wine bottle & one drape. Breitenbach claimed to have come around with
his assistant and the old wooden 8x10 camera and photographed our set-ups,
but "none of them was good enough to print."
The other teacher at the school sent his students out into the city with
35 mm cameras. Jay Meisel got that class -- and he went on to become Jay
Meisel. I, as noted, became painter/illustrator-- and photographer only
in 1978 -- entirely by accident, which is another story.
Meanwhile, from everything I've read, including I believe Arbus's own
statements, this article, and most particularly & dramatically the look of
Arbus's work, Lisette Modell seems like Arbus's defining influence...
Judy
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : 10/01/03-03:09:00 PM Z CST