Diane Arbus, much like Orson Welles, believed that black and white was every subject’s best friend. Her images maintained a haunting ambiance, exposing flaws without exploiting them. Arbus’s work defies convention, straddling the line between noteworthy and macabre. There are trannies and coquettes, naked ogres and listless freaks, all of them an apt reflection of poor Arbus, who slit her wrists at 48.

(Portraits of America by Diane Arbus and Candy Noland continues through April 19th at the Gagosian Gallery Annex, Free, 976 Madison Avenue @ 76th Street.)

Five More For The Offing: 

• Paris As Muse, photography 1830s-1940s featuring various artists @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Free with suggested donation, through 5/4, 5th Avenue @ 83rd Street)
• Matter of Life and Death by Jerome Liebling @ Steven Kasher Gallery (Free, through 4/19, 521 West 23rd Street)
• The City In Transition by Berenice Abbott & Charles Marville @ Howard Greenberg Gallery (Free, through 4/12, 41 East 57th Street, Suite 1406)
• Transfigurations by Oswaldo Vigas @ Dillon Gallery (Free, through 4/19, 555 West 25th Street)
• Ambassador for the New by Ileana Sonnabend @ The Museum of Modern Art ($25 general admission, through 4/21, 11 West 53rd Street)