id: 154043 accession number: 1988.162 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1988.162 updated: 2023-03-14 12:01:34.198000 New York City, Battery Park, c. 1963. Robert Frank (American, 1924–2019). Gelatin silver print; image: 23 x 34.6 cm (9 1/16 x 13 5/8 in.); paper: 28 x 35.4 cm (11 x 13 15/16 in.); matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Mann 1988.162 © Robert Frank title: New York City, Battery Park title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1963 creation date earliest: 1958 creation date latest: 1968 current location: creditline: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas A. Mann copyright: © Robert Frank --- culture: America, 20th century technique: gelatin silver print department: Photography collection: PH - American 1951-Present type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Robert Frank (American, 1924–2019) - artist Robert Frank American, b. Switzerland, 1924-2019. Robert Louis Frank achieved fame for his controversial book, The Americans, which presented in a series of candid black-and-white photographs his observations of American life in the late 1950s. Born in Zurich, Frank began his photographic career as an apprentice with Hermann Eidenbenz in Basel (1940-41) and Michael Wolgensinger in Zurich (1942). After serving in the military in 1944, he worked for Gloria Films in Zurich as a still photographer and in 1946 moved to Paris to establish himself in commercial work. The following year he immigrated to New York City, where he met and was hired by Alexey Brodovitch, art director for Harper's Bazaar. Frank photographed for Brodovitch until 1951, when he began to work as a freelance photojournalist, taking assignments from magazines such as Life, McCall's, and Fortune. He also began exhibiting his pictures in group shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. In 1955 and 1956 Frank received back-to-back fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, which allowed him to travel across America taking photographs. Eighty-three of the images from his road trip appeared in The Americans. On his journey Frank took a subjective documentary approach to record commonplace aspects of American culture: lunch counters, drive-in movies, factories, parades, rodeos, parties. He also captured evidence of poverty, racism, and alienation, challenging the popular perception of a prosperous, harmonious postwar America. The book was first published in France as Les Américains (1958) and the following year appeared in the United States, with an introduction by Beat poet and writer Jack Kerouac. Frank then turned to filmmaking, collaborating with Kerouac and painter Alfred Leslie on Pull My Daisy (1959). The Sin of Jesus (1961), O.K. End Here (1963), Me and My Brother (1968), and Life-Raft Earth (1969) followed. Since 1969 Frank has lived in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, producing photographs and film with a personal, autobiographical approach. His images have been included in many shows, including a recent one-artist traveling exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1994). M.M. --- measurements: Image: 23 x 34.6 cm (9 1/16 x 13 5/8 in.); Paper: 28 x 35.4 cm (11 x 13 15/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in black ink on recto: "New York City 1963? Battery Park, Robert Frank [signed]"; in blue ink on verso: "JL [circled]" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1988 opening date: 1989-03-01T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1988. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 1-May 14, 1989). title: Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art opening date: 1996-03-16T05:00:00 Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art. Phoenix Art Museum (organizer) (March 16-June 16, 1996). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * CMA, March 1 - May 14, 1989: "Year in Review 1988," CMA Bulletin, 76 (February 1989), p. 70, no. 59, repr. p. 65.
Cleveland, Ohio, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, June 14 - August 14, 1994: "Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art, catalogue p. 61, no. 18.
Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix Art Museum, March 16 - June 30, 1996: "Old Glory: The American Flag in Contemporary Art, catalogue p. 61, no. 18. --- PROVENANCE --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. page number: Reproduced: P. 170 url: --- IMAGES