  About the Artwork
  
  
  Diane Arbus was influenced by press photographer Weegee and his images of New York crime scenes and street life; she was also a student of Lisette Model, who often exploited her subjects as isolated figures in a stark, unflattering manner. In the square format portraits characteristic of her work, Arbus incorporated the humor of Weegee’s graphic, urban style and the sardonic representations of human existence prevalent in the work of Model. The image is typical of Arbus’s documentary style, which appears both as a record and as an insight into the psychology of the subjects depicted.
 
While employed as a press photographer, Arbus was assigned to a senior citizens’ dance.
She wrote this caption: “Their numbers were picked out of a hat. They were just chosen King and Queen of a senior citizens’ dance in N.Y.C. Yetta Granat is 72 and Charles Fahrer is 79. They have never met before.”
  
  
  Title
  The King and Queen of a Senior Citizens Dance, N.Y.C.
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1970, printed later
  
  Artist
  Diane Arbus
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1923-1971
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  American
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Gelatin silver print
  
  
  Dimensions
  Image: 16 × 15 3/8 inches (40.6 × 39.1 cm)
  Sheet: 19 7/8 × 16 7/8 inches (50.5 × 42.9 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Photographs
  
  
  Department
  Prints, Drawings &amp; Photographs
  
  
  Credit
  Founders Society Purchase, Mary Martin Semmes Fund, Barbara L. Scripps Fund, Edna Burian Skelton Fund
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  F80.174
  
  
  Copyright
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