Photographer Deborah Turbeville To Sign Books At ICP April 24

Photographer Deborah Turbeville will be signing her new book Casa No Name (NY: Rizzoli, 2009) and presumably earlier works as well at the ICP Museum Store on April 24. The ICP Museum Store is located at 1133 Avenue of The Americas in New York City.

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Diane Arbus And Hubert's Museum Work: Another Arbus Mystery

The mystery that clings to the life and career of Diane Arbus continues. The Phillips de Pury auction of original Diane Arbus photographs, taken at Hubert's Flea Circus and painstakingly assembled over a number of years by book dealer Bob Langmuir, was abruptly canceled last October, literally hours before it was scheduled to begin. A day or so before, a shouting match had erupted during an appearance by Gregory Gibson, the author of "Hubert's Freaks," an account of Langmuir's discovery and recovery of the Arbus photographs. Bayo Ogunsanya. the Brooklyn man Langmuir had accquired a number of photographs from, disrupted the reading with his claim that he had been cheated in his deal with Langmuir. Shortly thereafter the auction was canceled, with Phillips offering the transparently dubious explanation of a "private sale pending."

Phillips had gone to the expense of printing a catalog and had marketed the sale aggressively. Although media speculation had the cancellation being the result of a lawsuit by Ogunsanya against Langmuir, it was noted by some observers that the suit had been filed months before the auction, with the auction house well aware of it long before the sale was scheduled. Later, more informed speculation had Phillips becoming nervous about the lackluster results at the Berman sale of Arbus photographs at Christie's, and backing out of its guarantee to Langmuir.

Ogunsanya, however, recently announced his suit had been settled on favorable terms to him, but in keeping with the Arbus mystique, details were kept under wraps. Langmuir won't comment, and neither will Phillips. Ogunsanya let it slip he'll collect "a percentage of the gross" when the sale finally does take place but refused further comment. What's not known is when, or if, the auction will be rescheduled. Langmuir isn't saying. In the meantime the auction catalog, Diane Arbus: Hubert's Museum Work 1958-1963 (April 8, 2008, New York, Photographs, has become something of a collectible, as it's uncertain if the photographs will be shown any time soon, if ever. In that, as in all things Arbus, the mystery remains.

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Finding The Ellusive First Edition of Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph

Cited in Andrew Roth's The Book of 101 Books, The Open Book, and Photobook by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger, Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph is clearly a must have for any collector of rare photography books. Published by Aperture in 1972, the book was issued in collaboration with the MOMA retrospective of Arbus's work a year after she committed suicide.

The first issue of Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph is the only copy worth collecting. The first printing of both the hardcover and softcover edition includes an image entitled "Two Girls In Identical Raincoats" which was removed from subsequent printings, apparently because Arbus did not obtain permission from the girls' parents to reprint the photograph.

Prices for a near fine copy of the first hardcover edition currently range from $2500to $2750. The softcover edition can be had for $300 to $600 depending on condition.

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