Grouchy, antagonistic, and brilliant, according to those who knew him, Marvin Israel was a relatively unknown man of great cultural power, not least in the world of photography. As art director for Harper’s Bazaar in the sixties, Israel published the work of Richard Avedon and Walker Evans alongside that of less established photographers such as Bill Brandt and Lee Friedlander. “The whole point of Bazaar, with Marvin, was that you never just ran a beautiful portfolio of extraordinarily beautiful women retouched,” the art director Ruth Ansel says. “You ran also a Diane Arbus portfolio of strange people who tattooed their body and lived on the Bowery, to have a counterbalance.”
Outside of his magazine work, Israel collaborated, edited, and designed books and exhibitions for Arbus, Avedon, Peter Beard, and Lisette Model, among others. He was an important influence for established photographers and younger artists alike. Deborah Turbeville, one of Israel’s students, has described him as “an amazing mind,” and someone who “could really understand what you were trying to do before you even knew yourself and nudge you in that way.”
In a one-night event on December 15th, Aperture Foundation will be screening the documentary “Who Is Marvin Israel?” along with a slide show and talk by Diane Arbus. Here is a selection of Israel’s magazine, book, and personal work.
