Skip to Content
Closed now, next open Thursday. Closed now, next open Thursday.

Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J.

Black-and-white photograph of identical light-skinned, dark-haired girls. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder facing the viewer, wearing identical black dresses with white collars, white tights, and white headbands. The girl on the right smiles with closed lips, while the other does not.

Image actions

  • Black-and-white photograph of identical light-skinned, dark-haired girls. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder facing the viewer, wearing identical black dresses with white collars, white tights, and white headbands. The girl on the right smiles with closed lips, while the other does not.

Date:

1966

Artist:

Diane Arbus
American, 1923–1971

About this artwork

Two years before she received her first camera, Diane Arbus wrote: “There are and have been and will be an infinite number of things on Earth. Individuals all different, all wanting different things, all knowing different things, all loving different things, all looking different… . That is what I love: the differentness.” Arbus’s appreciation for the unusual, eccentric, and extraordinary led her to photograph a range of subjects over the thirty years of her career—transvestites, giants, art philanthropists, nudists, and, as here, identical twins. No one knows how Arbus learned about a small-town Christmas party in 1967 being held for local twins and triplets, but it is in keeping with her interest in how people are who they are. Isolating these seven-year-old girls against the wall of the Knights of Columbus hall in Roselle, New Jersey, and photographing them in her typically straightforward manner, Arbus ensured close attention would be paid to the details: the matching homemade dresses (which were green but appear black), the lace stockings bunched below the knees, and the barely discernible difference in each girl’s presentation before the camera. Such details variously belie and reinforce the uncanny suggestion of two thoroughly identical individuals.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Diane Arbus

Title

Identical Twins, Roselle, N.J.

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1966

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image: 38 × 37 cm (15 × 14 5/8 in.); Paper: 50.5 × 40.4 cm (19 15/16 × 15 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Richard Avedon

Reference Number

1986.2976

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share