Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C.

In 1962, Diane Arbus began making portraits in style that is largely frontal and symmetrical with the subject taking the central position in the frame. This became typical of her photographs. In the same year she also replaced her 35-mm camera with a 2¼-inch twin lens reflex camera. It was held in her hands at about hip height. Thus, she did not hide behind the apparatus and the individual must have been conscious of being photographed. Items were incorporated to provide added information. For example, the toy hand grenade in this photograph could be a statement on how Arbus negatively and cynically viewed violence and war in American culture. Arbus indicated that her field of interest in photography was 'as a kind of contemporary anthology' of documentation of outsiders.

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