After Diane Arbus (1923-1971) Triplets in their bedroom, N.J., 1963 Gelatin silver print, print date and printer unknown. 5 x 4 7/8 in. (12.7 x 12.4 cm.) sheet 8 3/8 x 8 in. (21.3 x 20.3 cm.) Footnotes: Provenance Marvin Israel, co-editor and designer of the photographer's 1972 Aperture monograph; Gift from the above to Lily Tomlin in 1983. Literature Doon Arbus and Marvin Israel, eds. Diane Arbus (Aperture, 1972), no. 31; Diane Arbus Revelations (New York, 2003), p. 85; Sarah Hermanson Meister, Arbus, Friedlander, Winogrand: New Documents, 1967 (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2017), pp. 38, 161. Note In 1963, Diane Arbus visited the New Jersey home of the Slota triplets, where she took this indelible portrait of the sisters in their bedroom. Four years later, it was featured in New Documents: Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winogrand, the ground-breaking exhibition presented at The Museum of Modern Art in spring 1967. Curator John Szarkowski subsequently arranged a circulating version of the installation that traveled to 14 venues, beginning at Goucher College in Towson, Maryland in fall 1967 and ending at the San Francisco Museum of Art in summer 1969. To accompany the installation, MoMA produced a trifold exhibition brochure for distribution at each location (ill. Meister, p. 161). Triplets was reproduced on the cover of the brochure at an image size of approximately 3 1/2 inches square, cementing it as the de facto emblem of New Documents. Szarkowski remarked in the brochure, 'The portraits of Diane Arbus show that all of us - the most ordinary and the most exotic of us - are, on closer scrutiny, remarkable. The honesty of her vision is of an order belonging only to those of truly generous spirit.' At the conclusion of the tour, MoMA acquired a print of Triplets for its permanent collection (952.1969). According to Marvin Israel (1924-1984) - an artist, innovative art director at Harper's Bazaar and Mademoiselle, as well as Arbus's longtime friend, editor, and trusted advisor - the present work is a test print executed by Arbus. Israel verbally relayed this information to Lily Tomlin when he gifted it to her in 1983. The two had met while he was designing the layout for a profile of Tomlin published in the July 1983 premiere issue of The Movies magazine. Before Israel presented this print to Tomlin, he placed the photograph between a piece of cardboard and a small sheet of glass, then taped it closed. The cardboard was larger than the print and formed a border around the full sheet. At the bottom of his makeshift mat, Israel inscribed in ink: 'For Lili - A D.A. test Print - Marvin 1983'. The full sheet is worn and stained, in keeping with how a test print may have been handled. It is conceivable that this lot was a test print for MoMA's New Documents exhibition brochure since the two images are cropped identically with clean, straight edges. Other lifetime prints of this portrait - of which only a handful have appeared at auction in the past 35 years - typically present the full, slightly undulating edges of the image with black borders. Posthumous prints from the edition of 75 have diffuse image edges without black borders. Since Israel's claim that this work was printed by Arbus cannot be verified, Bonhams has catalogued this lot as 'After Diane Arbus'. Please note that the sheet is neither signed nor inscribed by the photographer. Lot to be sold without reserve. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ¤ ¤ Unless indicated by the ¤ symbol next to the lot number (or bearing an explicit statement such as 'No Reserve' or 'Without Reserve'), which denotes no reserve, all lots in the catalog are subject to a reserve. The reserve is the minimum hammer price that the seller is willing to accept for a lot. This amount is confidential and does not exceed the low estimate value. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing