Amy Arbus

From 1980 to 1990, Arbus shot On the Street, a style page in The Village Voice. Her only brief was to photograph anyone who made her turn her head, and she did, catching downtown New York characters and future stars, Madonna among them before she was famous. Where Cunningham tracked trends, Arbus made portraits: one person, one look, framed with care. That makes her the bridge between the society snapshot and the subculture portrait. Her book On the Street 1980-1990 collects the best of the decade alongside the original newspaper layouts.