Diane Arbus met “The World’s Tallest Man” at a flea circus in 1959 — but waited 11 years to shoot him at his parents’ home, his head bowed to keep from hitting the ceiling.
The man she called “the Jewish Giant” was Eddie Carmel; though he died two years later, Arbus’ photo made him immortal. The Jewish Museum has now made it the centerpiece of a small but poignant show, opening April 11.
Surrounding that image of Carmel — only 34 but ailing, his parents looking up at him with wonder and concern — are his size 24 shoes and other artifacts testifying to what curator Daniel Palmer calls “the fickleness of the human body.” As family photos show, Carmel was a normal child until age 15, when a hormonal condition made him freakish.
He boasted he was 9 feet tall, but no one ever measured him. Alas, it was a living.
Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street; thejm.org