Undated: 'Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park'

The essence and lasting impact of this photo, taken by Diane Arbus in the spring or summer of 1962, as described by the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art):

"An iconic image that embodies the awkward tension between childhood tomfoolery and primal violence, this has become one of the most celebrated photographs in the history of the medium. America's historic transition from the complacent isolationism of the 1950s to the sociopolitical turmoil that would emerge in the late 1960s and 1970s seems to seethe beneath the surface of this image, underscoring Arbus' prescience and intuitive understanding of her time."

* Contact sheet: @

* "Post-developments" (article about Colin Wood, the boy in the photo; San Francisco Chronicle, 2003): @

* More photos by Arbus (from diane-arbus-photography.com): @

* Arbus biography (from masters-of-photography.com): @

* Arbus biography (from www.jewishvirtuallibrary.com): @

* Explaining Arbus' work (from www.haberarts.com): @

* "A Fresh Look at Diane Arbus" (Smithsonian magazine, 2004): @

* "Double Exposure" (The Washington Post, 2005): @

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