Two ladies at the automat, N.Y.C. 1966
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Diane Arbus likely encountered the subjects here in the same Horn & Hardart restaurant in New York frequented by the American Surrealist, Joseph Cornell, who had a sweet tooth and appreciated their fruit pies and inexpensive chicory coffee. Arbus had photographed inside the Automat (a coin-operated cafeteria) for some eight years before she met these two women wearing impressive pillbox hats—not identical twins or likely even sisters but perfectly matched, harmonious members of a close-knit community.
Artwork Details
- Title: Two ladies at the automat, N.Y.C. 1966
- Artist: Diane Arbus (American, New York 1923–1971 New York)
- Date: 1966
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 9 5/8 × 9 1/4 in. (24.4 × 23.5 cm)
Sheet: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
Framed: 21 × 17 in. (53.3 × 43.2 cm) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Promised Gift of Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee, in celebration of the Museum’s 150th Anniversary
- Rights and Reproduction: © The Estate of Diane Arbus
- Curatorial Department: Photographs