Boy with a straw hat waiting to march in a pro-war parade, NYC, 1967

There are three lifetime prints by Diane Arbus in Temple of Style: The Barbara Jakobson Collection, two of which were acquired through the Museum of Modern Art’s art lending service. In 2005, while raising funds for the Museum of Modern Art acquisition budget, Barbara Jakobson shared the following memories of meeting Diane Arbus.


"In 1957, Barbara Jakobson met Diane Arbus at the Central Park 'Mommy Playground' after noticing Arbus quietly sewing apart from the other mothers. They struck up a playground friendship that lasted even after Arbus moved downtown and until the artist’s death.” According to Jakobson, over their years she would often watch Arbus’ younger daughter Amy while Arbus made photographs.

Not many years later, Jakobson began an apprenticeship at the Museum of Modern Art and continued to follow Arbus’ artistic development with admiration. In the late 1960s, Jakobson acquired several of Arbus’ photographs through the museum, including the present lot.

The work on offer is a rare, lifetime print of the image. It is among only six lifetime prints of this image that have come to auction. Other lifetime prints can be found in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.; and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta.

This image appeared on the cover of Art Forum, Volume IX, No. 9, May 1971, and was the first time a photograph had been used for the cover of the esteemed magazine.