On Saturday we had brunch at Penny Farthing, a wonderful East Village tavern not too far from where my son is based in NYC, and then went to see “Diane Arbus: In the Beginning” at the Met Breuer. This exhibit includes 100 photographs from the first 7 years of her career, 1956 to 1962. The famous child with toy hand grenade in Central Park is here as well as the identical twins and luminous photographs of female impersonators she took at Club 82. She first took pictures from the audience’s vantage point in order to capture the performances but later ventured into the performers’ dressing rooms and that’s where the fascinating power of her work truly shines. Arbus’s interest in New Yorkers, their diversity and eccentricity, and later in fringe communities is apparent here. But we also discover her passion for cinema, how pictures are painted with light and shadow in order to create magical worlds. See “The Kiss” or “Clouds on Screen at a Drive-in Movie” below. Finally, the way her work is displayed at the Met Breuer is interesting. Each photograph is exhibited on a standalone flat pillar and therefore throngs of people interweave across all sides of each photograph, without a set trajectory. One is constantly bumping into other visitors and making eye contact. It’s a bit disorienting but perhaps a just tribute to an artist who never took the obvious path to anywhere.