Norman Mailer at Home, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Ed. #16/75 Commissioned for the magazine Esquire, this photograph was one of the first portraits Arbus made after she switched from a 35 mm to a 2 1/4 twin-lens reflex camera, the larger negative of which allowed for greater detail and clarity. She used the square format to great effect in the writer's expressive pose. After seeing his portrait, Mailer remarked, "Giving a camera to Diane Arbus is like putting a live grenade in the hands of a child."