Robert Frank's noted book, The Americans (1958)

Robert Frank (born November 9, 1924), born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photographic book titled simply The Americans, was heavily influential in the post-war period, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American society. Frank later expanded into film and video and experimented with compositing and manipulating photographs. Cover scan of The Americans by Robert Frank, sixth printing, 1997. ... Cover scan of The Americans by Robert Frank, sixth printing, 1997. ... November 9 is the 313th day of the year (314th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 52 days remaining. ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar). ... View of the inner city with the four main churches visible, and the Albis in the backdrop Zürich (German: , Zürich German: Züri , French: , in English generally Zurich, Italian: ) is the largest city in Switzerland (population: 366,145 in 2004; population of urban area: 1,091,732) and... Photography is the process of making pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a sensor or film. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Americans, 1969 2nd printing The Americans, by Robert Frank, was a highly influential book in post-war American photography. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For other uses, see Tocqueville (disambiguation) Alexis de Tocqueville Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (Verneuil-sur-Seine, ÃŽle-de-France, July 29, 1805– Cannes, April 16, 1859) was a French political thinker and historian. ...

Background and early photography career

Frank was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Switzerland. Frank's mother, Rosa, was Swiss, but his father, Hermann, had become stateless after World War I and had to apply for the Swiss citizenship of Frank and his older brother, Manfred. Though Frank and his family remained safe in Switzerland during World War II, the threat of Nazism nonetheless affected his understanding of oppression. He turned to photography in part as a means to escape the confines of his business-oriented family and home, and trained under a few photographers and graphic designers before he created his first hand-made book of photographs, 40 Fotos, in 1946. Frank emigrated to the United States in 1947, and secured a job in New York City as a fashion photographer for Harper's Bazaar. He soon left to travel in South America and Europe. He published two more books of photos he took in Peru, and returned to the U.S. in 1950. That year was momentous for Frank, who after meeting Edward Steichen participated in the group show 51 American Photographers at the Museum of Modern Art; he also married fellow artist, Mary Lockspeiser, with whom he had two children, Andrea and Pablo. For other uses, see Jew (disambiguation). ... Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna... National Socialism redirects here. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ... New York, NY redirects here. ... Fashion illustration by George Barbier of a gown by Jeanne Paquin, 1912, from La Gazette du bon ton, the most influential fashion magazine of its era. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Harpers & Queen. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Edward Steichen (March 27, 1879-March 25, 1973) was an American photographer, painter, and art gallery and museum curator, born in Luxembourg. ... View across garden, in new MoMA building by Yoshio Taniguchi. ... Mary Frank (born in England in 1933) is a visual artist known primarily as a sculptor. ...

Mabou by Robert Frank, from the 2004-2005 Tate Modern Storylines exhibition

Though he was initially optimistic about the United States, Frank's perspective quickly changed as he confronted the fast pace of American life and what he saw as an overemphasis on money. He now saw America as an often bleak and lonely place, a perspective that became evident in his later photography. Frank's own dissatisfaction with the control editors exercised over his work also undoubtedly colored his experience. He continued to travel, moving his family briefly to Paris. In 1953, he returned to New York and continued to work as a freelance photojournalist for magazines including McCall's, Vogue, and Fortune. Image File history File linksMetadata Mabou. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Mabou. ... Tate Modern from the Millennium Bridge Tate Modern from St Pauls Cathedral. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur ([Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... Sports photojournalists at Indianapolis Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (i. ... Cover of the March 1911 issue McCalls was a monthly American womens magazine that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of six million in 1960. ... For other meanings, see vogue. ... Fortune magazine is Americas second longest-running business magazine after Forbes magazine. ...

The Americans

With the aid of his major artistic influence, the photographer Walker Evans, Frank secured a grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in 1955 to travel across the United States and photograph its society at all strata. He took his family along with him for part of his series of road trips over the next two years, during which time he took 28,000 shots. Only 83 of those were finally selected by him for publication in The Americans. Frank's journey was not without incident. While driving through Arkansas, Frank was arbitrarily thrown in jail after being stopped by the police; elsewhere in the South, he was told by a sheriff that he had "an hour to leave town." The car was without proper title (it was legally owned by Peggy Guggenheim) and Horvitz was shortly arrested for possession of a stolen automobile. After the success of the book Frank payed off the debt, which now included legal fees acquired after the vehicle incident, with original photographic prints that Horvitz happily accepted. Walker Evans Walker Evans (November 3, 1903 – April 10, 1975) was an American photographer made famous by his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression. ... The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section contains a plot summary that is overly long. ... Official language(s) English Capital Little Rock Largest city Little Rock Area  Ranked 29th  - Total 53,179 sq mi (137,002 km²)  - Width 239 miles (385 km)  - Length 261 miles (420 km)  - % water 2. ... Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... Peggy Guggenheim (August 26, 1898 - December 23, 1979) was an American art collector. ...

Shortly after returning to New York in 1957, Frank met Beat writer Jack Kerouac on the sidewalk outside a party and showed him the photographs from his travels. Kerouac immediately told Frank "Sure I can write something about these pictures," and he contributed the introduction to the U.S. edition of The Americans. Frank also became lifelong friends with Allen Ginsberg, and was one of the main visual artists to document the Beat subculture, which felt an affinity with Frank's interest in documenting the tensions between the optimism of the 1950s and the realities of class and racial differences. The irony that Frank found in the gloss of American culture and wealth over this tension gave Frank's photographs a clear contrast to those of most contemporary American photojournalists, as did his use of unusual focus, low lighting and cropping that deviated from accepted photographic techniques. 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... “Beats” redirects here. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Irwin Allen Ginsberg (IPA: ) (June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American Beat poet. ... Sports photojournalists at Indianapolis Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism (i. ...

This divergence from contemporary photographic standards gave Frank difficulty at first in securing an American publisher. Les Americains was first published in 1958 by Robert Delpire in Paris, and finally in 1959 in the United States by Grove Press, where it initially received substantial criticism. Popular Photography, for one, derided his images as "meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and general sloppiness." Though sales were also poor at first, Kerouac's introduction helped it reach a larger audience because of the popularity of the Beat phenomenon. Over time and through its inspiration of later artists, The Americans became considered a seminal work in American photography and art history, and the work with which Frank is most clearly identified. In 1961, Frank received his first individual show, entitled Robert Frank: Photographer, at the Art Institute of Chicago. He also showed at MOMA in New York in 1962. Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. ... Popular Photography & Imaging, also called simply Popular Photography or simply Pop Photo, is a monthly American consumer magazine founded in 1937 and the worlds largest imaging magazine, with an editorial staff twice the size of its nearest competitor. ... This article is about the academic discipline of art history. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... The Art Institute of Chicago is a fine art museum located in Chicago, Illinois. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ...

Films

By that time, however, Frank had moved away from photography to concentrate on making films. Among them was the 1959 Pull My Daisy, which was written and narrated by Kerouac and starred Ginsberg and others from the Beat circle. The Beat philosophy emphasized spontaneity, and the film conveyed the quality of having been thrown together or even improvised. Pull My Daisy was accordingly praised for years as an improvisational masterpiece, until Frank's co-director, Alfred Leslie, revealed in a November 28, 1968 article in the Village Voice that the film was actually carefully planned, rehearsed, and directed by him and Frank, who shot the film with professional lighting. Pull My Daisy is a 1958 short film that typifies the Beat Generation. ... The Village Voice is a New York City-based weekly newspaper featuring investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts reviews and events listings for New York City. ...

In 1960, Frank was staying in Fluxus artist George Segal's basement while filming Sin of Jesus with a grant from Walter K. Gutman. Isaac Singer's story was transformed to center on a woman working on a chicken farm in New Jersey. It was originally supposed to be filmed in six weeks in and around New Brunswick, but Frank ended up shooting for six months. 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... Fluxus (from to flow) is an art movement noted for the blending of different artistic disciplines, primarily visual art but also music and literature. ... George Segal George Segal (born February 13, 1934) is a well-known Jewish American film and stage actor who was born in Great Neck, Long Island, New York. ... Portrait of Isaac Merritt Singer by Edward Harrison May (1869). ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... Motto: Spem reduxit (Hope restored) Capital Fredericton Largest city Saint John Official languages English, French (the only constitutionally bilingual province in the country) Government - Lieutenant-Governor Herménégilde Chiasson - Premier Shawn Graham (Liberal) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 10 - Senate seats 10 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st...

His 1972 documentary of the Rolling Stones, Cocksucker Blues, is arguably his best known film. The film shows the Stones while on their '72 tour, engaging in heavy drug use and group sex. Perhaps more disturbing to the Stones when they saw the finished product, however, was the degree to which Frank faithfully captured the loneliness and despair of life on the road. Mick Jagger reportedly told Frank, "It's a fucking good film, Robert, but if it shows in America we'll never be allowed in the country again." The Stones sued to prevent the film's release, and it was disputed whether Frank as the artist or the Stones as those who hired the artist actually owned the copyright. A court order resolved this with Solomonic wisdom by restricting the film to being shown no more than five times per year and only in the presence of Frank. Franks' photography also appeared on the cover of the Rolling Stones' album Exile on Main St.. 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday. ... “Rolling Stones” redirects here. ... Cocksucker Blues is an unreleased documentary film directed by Robert Frank chronicling The Rolling Stones North American tour in 1972 in support of their album Exile on Main Street. ... For the album by Circle Jerks, see Group Sex. ... Sir Michael Phillip Mick Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English rock musician, actor, songwriter, record and film producer and businessman. ... Copyright symbol Copyright is a set of exclusive rights regulating the use of a particular expression of an idea or information. ... It has been suggested that Sulayman be merged into this article or section. ... Exile on Main St. ...

Other films by Robert Frank include "Keep Busy" and "Candy Mountain" which he co-directed with Rudy Wurlitzer.

Return to still images

Flamingo, exhibition catalog for Frank's 1996 Hasselblad Award show

Though Frank continued to be interested in film and video, he returned to still images in the 1970s, publishing his second photographic book, Lines of My Hand, in 1972. This work has been described as a "visual autobiography", and consists largely of personal photographs. However, he largely gave up "straight" photography to instead create narratives out of constructed images and collages, incorporating words and multiple frames of images that were directly scratched and distorted on the negatives. None of this later work has achieved an impact or notoriety comparable to that which The Americans achieved. As some critics have pointed out, this is perhaps because Frank began playing with constructed images more than a decade after Robert Rauschenberg introduced his silkscreen composites—in contrast to The Americans, Frank's later images simply were not beyond the pale of accepted technique and practice by that time. Cover scan of Flamingo, by Robert Frank—1996 Hasselblad Award exhibition catalog. ... Cover scan of Flamingo, by Robert Frank—1996 Hasselblad Award exhibition catalog. ... A collage composed of magazine articles and pictures Collage (From the French: , to stick) is regarded as a work of visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ... Robert Rauschenberg (b. ...

Frank and Mary separated in 1969. He remarried to sculptor June Leaf, and in 1971, moved to the community of Mabou in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. In 1974, tragedy struck when his daughter, Andrea, was killed in a plane crash in Tikal, Guatemala. Also around this time, his son, Pablo, was first hospitalized and diagnosed with schizophrenia. Much of Frank's subsequent work has dealt with the impact the loss of his daughter and his son's continuing battle with mental illness has had upon him. In 1995, he founded the Andrea Frank Foundation, which provides grants to artists. For the Stargate SG-1 episode, see 1969 (Stargate SG-1). ... 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday. ... Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada NASA landsat photo of Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (French: île du Cap-Breton, Scottish Gaelic: Eilean Cheap Breatuinn, Míkmaq: Únamakika, simply: Cape Breton) is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. ... Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit(Latin) One defends and the other conquers Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Regional Municipality Official languages English Government - Lieutenant-Governor Mayann E. Francis - Premier Rodney MacDonald (PC) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 11 - Senate seats 10 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Mental Illness. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Since his move to Nova Scotia, Frank has divided his time between his home there in a former fisherman's shack on the coast, and his Bleecker Street loft in New York. He has acquired a reputation for being a recluse (particularly since the death of Andrea), declining most interviews and public appearances. He has continued to accept eclectic assignments, however, such as photographing the 1984 Democratic National Convention, and directing music videos for artists such as New Order ("Run"), and Patti Smith ("Summer Cannibals"). Frank continues to produce both films and still images, and has helped organize several retrospectives of his art. In 1994, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC presented the most comprehensive retrospective of Frank's work to date, entitled Moving Out. Frank was awarded the prestigious Hasselblad Award for photography in 1996. His 1997 award exhibition at the Hasselblad Center in Goteborg, Sweden was entitled Flamingo, as was the accompanying published catalog. Motto: Munit Haec et Altera Vincit(Latin) One defends and the other conquers Capital Halifax Largest city Halifax Regional Municipality Official languages English Government - Lieutenant-Governor Mayann E. Francis - Premier Rodney MacDonald (PC) Federal representation in Canadian Parliament - House seats 11 - Senate seats 10 Confederation July 1, 1867 (1st) Area... Bleecker Street looking west from The Bowery. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Featured at the Democratic National Convention are speeches by prominent party figures. ... A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... New Order is an English rock group formed in 1980 by the remaining members of Joy Division following the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. ... Patricia Lee (Patti) Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American musician, singer, and poet. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... This article is about the National Gallery of the United States, for other National Galleries, see National Gallery The East Building of the National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum owned and managed by the government of the United States. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... The Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography is an award granted to a photographer recognized for major achievements. The award - and the foundation - was set up from the estate of Erna and Victor Hasselblad. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg [jøːtəbɔrj]) is a city and a municipality on the western coast of Sweden, in the County of Västra Götaland. ...

He is currently represented by the Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York.

Quotes

"When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice." LIFE (26 November 1951), p. 21.

Further reading

• Alexander, Stuart. - Robert Frank: A Bibliography, Filmography, and Exhibition Chronology 1946-1985. ISSN 0739-4845 LOC#: 86-071793'

• Frank, Robert. - Robert Frank: Storylines (Turtleback) ISBN 3-86521-041-4

• Frank, Robert. – Twenty-four Photographs. In: Corina Caduff and Reto Sorg (Ed.): Nationalliteraturen heute – ein Fantom? Tradition und Imagination des Schweizerischen als Problem. Programmheft zur Internationalen Tagung vom 18. bis 21. Juni 2003 im Schauspielhaus Zürich. Mit Originalbeiträgen von Robert Frank und Michail Schischkin. Thun: Report 2003 [Switzerland]. ISBN 3-907591-30-5

• Green, Jonathan. - American Photography: A Critical History (Abrams). ISBN 0-8109-1814-5 Chapter 5, "The Americans: Politics and Alienation"

• Janis, Eugenia Parry and Wendy MacNeil. - Photography Within the Humanities, Addison House Publishers, Danbury, NH, 1977. ISBN 0-89169-013-1

• Leo, Vince. - Robert Frank: From Compromise to Collaboration. ("Parkett" Issue 42 1994 Pg 8-23)

• Nericcio, William Anthony. - ' Cinematography, Photography, and Literature: The Aesthetic Triptych of Robert Frank ' ' (MOPA, San Diego, 2000) An online essay on 'Pull My Daisy,' with illustrations and film-clip

• Papageorge, Tod. - Walker Evans and Robert Frank: An Essay on Influence, New Haven, CT, Yale University Art Gallery, 1981. ISBN 0-89467-015-8

• Sandeen, Eric. - Picturing An Exhibition. ISBN 0-8263-1558-5 see chapter 5, "Edward Steichen, Robert Frank, and American Modernism"

• Tucker, Anne and Philip Brookman, eds. - New York to Nova Scotia ISBN 3-86521-013-9 Harcover: 0821216236

Bibliographies

• Frank Bibliography (via UC Berkeley)

External link

• Tate Modern: Robert Frank
• Frank Films Scalo
• Essay
• Another One
• IMDb: Robert Frank