Conferences

Lecture: Diane Arbus and Howard Nemerov: A Resemblance

Alexander Nemerov, The Vincent Scully Professor of the History of Art, Yale University

November 21, 2011; 6 p.m.

Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (Auditorium, 2 rue Vivienne, 75002 Paris)

The poet Howard Nemerov and the photographer Diane Arbus were siblings who had a very close relationship, yet Nemerov did not care for his sister's photographs. He did not write directly about the photographs-he disliked her subject matter and did not believe that photography was an art. Even so, his poems abound in references to Arbus and her images. They do so because both the poet and photographer shared a way of looking at the world and a sense of the creative person's place within it. This lecture explores some of the many unexpected connections between Nemerov's poetry and Arbus's photography.