Mae West
1965
Diane Arbus
(born Diane Nemerov) American; born 1923, New York; died 1971, New York
Arbus Traveld to Santa Monica to visit West on her seventy-fifth birthday. This portrait and an essay by Arbus appeared in "Show" magazine in 1965. She wrote, "Nourished by her own legend, [West] has outlasted every lover and inititated a nation of boys into manhood . . . She is imperious, adorable, magnanimous, genteel, and girlish, almost simultaneously." Arbus also wondered if a street poem about the blonde sex symbol had foreshadowed "the changing mores everyone so deplores and enjoys": Mae West, Half undressed, Come up and see me sometime, And I'll show you the rest.
Gelatin Silver Print
14 5/8 x 14 11/16 in. (37.2 x 37.3 cm)
Mary Arrington Small Estate Acquisition Fund
86.33
Provenance: [Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum (with funds from Small Estate), May 10, 1986
