| Maker(s): | Arbus, Diane
| | Culture: | American (1923-1971)
| | Title: | Lauro Morales, Mexican Dwarf in His Hotel Room In N.Y.C. 1970
| | Date Made: | 1970
| | Type: | Photograph
| | Materials: | Gelatin silver print
| | Measurements: | Mat: 22 in x 22 in; 55.9 cm x 55.9 cm; Sheet: 19 3/4 x 16 in; 50.2 x 40.6 cm; Image: 15 x 14 5/16 in; 38.1 x 36.4 cm
| | Narrative Inscription: | TITLE/PRINTER/SIGNATURE: verso, upp. r. (black stamp and ink): A Diane Arbus photograph / title MEXICAN DWARF IN HIS HOTEL ROOM / IN N.Y.C. 1970 / print by NEIL SELKIRK/ Doon Arbus ; COPYRIGHT: verso, upp. ctr. (black stamp): Not to be reproduced in any way without / written permission from Doon Arbus ; EDITION: verso, upp. l. (black stamp and ink): this print is part of a limited edition portfolio of / ten Diane Arbus photographs. 37/50 ; ALPHANUMERIC: verso, lwr. l. (graphite): HS7.83.7 ; NUMBER: verso, lwr. l. (graphite): #509 ; NUMBER: verso, lwr. r. (graphite): 17 / 38 / 205
| | Accession Number: | UM 1986.9
| | Credit Line: | Purchased with funds from the University of Massachusetts Alumni Association
| | Museum Collection: | University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMASS Amherst
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Label Text:
Excerpt from wall label “What Is Love: Selections from the Permanent Collection,” April 19 – June 3, 2007:
Diane Arbus photographed hundreds of people during her life from socialites to teenagers, twins to dwarfs, and nudist camp members to sideshow performers. A unique relationship existed between her, the photographer, and her subjects. As John Szarkowski, former head of the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, states “The portraits of Diane Arbus show that all of us—the most ordinary and the most exotic of us—are on closer scrutiny remarkable.” In this photograph Arbus’s lens focuses on Lauro Morales, also known as Cha Cha, sitting on a hotel room bed with a bottle of liquor behind him. His hat and the towel across his lap draw the viewer’s attention to Morales’s nudity. Through her framing Arbus allows the viewer a relationship with Morales that suggests intimacy. The viewer shares a space often granted to a friend, or perhaps a lover, looking into his eyes, sitting on the bed with him. - Julie Thomson, (M.A. '07)
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=UM+1986.9 |
