Diane Arbus: Revelations is one of the most lovingly designed monographs I've seen. Its reproductions are uniformly excellent and faithfully reproduce the warm tones of the original Portriga Rapid prints. Unfortunately, the book designer is nowhere credited in the volume, though I did search.
Any large format "art book" that reproduces the photographer's contact sheets and provides technical information is to be commended. When photographers peruse monographs, they are looking not only for inspiration but also for insight into the means the photographer used to create his/her individual style. This book provides that. There are detailed discussions of the cameras with which Arbus worked as well as the differences the use of these cameras made in the final images. There is also a detailed essay by Neil Selkirk on the methods and materials Arbus used in the darkroom that is unusually informative. Arbus' technique was somewhat idiosyncratic (e.g., no dodging or burning) and allowed her to make prints that were immediately recognizable as her own and that complemented her shooting style very well.
It is only in the "Chronology" section that the book's design fails. The layout here makes the biographical content difficult to read, and the tiny reproductions of an arbitrary assortment of images become increasingly annoying. I suggest readers skip this section and instead purchase the biography by Patricia Bosworth. Although the biography is unauthorized and its reliability has been questioned, it contains details of Arbus' personal life that are essential to understanding her development as an artist and are not to be found in the thoroughly sanitized "Chronology."
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