19 September 2023 

An incredibly rare and influential portfolio of photographs is coming to City Gallery Wellington Te Whare Toi in September.  

A Box of Ten Photographs by the highly acclaimed US artist Diane Arbus (1923-1971) is on loan from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. 

City Gallery Wellington Senior Curator Aaron Lister says the centenary of Arbus’ birth is the perfect moment to bring the legendary portfolio to Aotearoa for the first time.  

“Arbus’ portfolio blew apart the idea of what photography could be or do and elevated its status as an art form.”  

Arbus planned the portfolio as an edition of fifty, but when she died in 1971, she had only printed the first eight sets, and had sold four. When Artforum published a cover story featuring work from the portfolio in 1971, it was the first-time photography had been featured in the magazine and on the cover. As Artforum editor Philip Leider said, ‘What changed everything was the portfolio itself … with Diane Arbus, one could find oneself interested in photography or not, but one could no longer, it seemed to me, deny its status as art’. A year later, the portfolio was exhibited in the American pavilion at the Venice Biennale — the first time photographs were presented in the Biennale.   

A Box of Ten Photographs encapsulates Arbus’ motivations and vision for her own work, says Lister. 

‘In making the portfolio, Arbus essentially curated this exhibition and set the terms of encounter by selecting the images, and writing the captions. My job was to secure the portfolio.’ 

This is just the second time an Arbus exhibition has come to New Zealand. The first in 1978-79, toured eight galleries, including the National Museum of Art (now Te Papa Tongarewa) and Lower Hutt’s The Dowse Art Museum. The exhibition was curated by Doon Arbus and Marvin Israel, and also toured through Japan and Europe. 

“It was the first monographic exhibition by an international contemporary photographer staged in this country, it drew record crowds and had a substantial impact on photographers here. 

‘‘She is one of the most original and important artists of the 20th century, and this portfolio must be considered one of the most important art works of that period too.” 

Diane Arbus: A Box of Ten Photographs opens on Saturday 23 September, and runs until 14 January 2024.