Love and Hate

In this article, the author traces his memory of and identification with Diane Arbus's photograph “Child With a Toy Hand Grenade, in Central Park, NYC” (Arbus, 2003, pp. 104–105) to his concept of Arbus as the last great humanist in contemporary art. He then connects Diane Arbus to another of his artistic humanist/heroes, Casanova. For the author, Arbus and Casanova are each registers of a need to experience humanity intensely, at the expense of the safety of their selves.