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Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C.

Diane Arbus American
1962
Not on view
An iconic image that embodies the awkward tension between childhood tomfoolery and primal violence, this has become one of the most celebrated photographs in the history of the medium. America's historic transition from the complacent isolationism of the 1950s to the sociopolitical turmoil that would emerge in the late 1960s and 1970s seems to seethe beneath the surface of this image, underscoring Arbus' prescience and intuitive understanding of her time.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C.
  • Artist: Diane Arbus (American, New York 1923–1971 New York)
  • Date: 1962
  • Medium: Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions: Image: 39.5 x 38.3 cm (15 9/16 x 15 1/16 in.)
    Sheet: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Jennifer and Joseph Duke Gift, 2001
  • Object Number: 2001.474
  • Rights and Reproduction: © The Estate of Diane Arbus
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

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Woman with bangs, N.Y.C., Diane Arbus American, Gelatin silver print
Woman with bangs, N.Y.C.
Diane Arbus
1961
Couple in their living room hugging, Diane Arbus American, Gelatin silver print
Couple in their living room hugging
Diane Arbus
1971
Blonde female impersonator framed in a mirror beneath a light bulb, N.Y.C., Diane Arbus American, Gelatin silver print
Blonde female impersonator framed in a mirror beneath a light bulb, N.Y.C.
Diane Arbus
1959
[Diane Arbus Typewritten Letter to Stewart Stern]
Diane Arbus
Stewart Stern
ca. August–September 1968
[Diane Arbus Self-Portrait in an Automated Photobooth]
Diane Arbus
ca. 1965

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