id: 155984
accession number: 1991.269
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1991.269
updated: 2024-03-26 02:00:11.858000
New York City, 1951. Robert Frank (American, 1924–2019). Gelatin silver print; image: 28.7 x 19.1 cm (11 5/16 x 7 1/2 in.); paper: 35.5 x 27.8 cm (14 x 10 15/16 in.); matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1991.269 © 1979 Robert Frank
title: New York City
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1951
creation date earliest: 1951
creation date latest: 1951
current location:
creditline: John L. Severance Fund
copyright: © 1979 Robert Frank
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culture: America, 20th century
technique: Gelatin silver print
department: Photography
collection: PH - American 1951-Present
type: Photograph
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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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.
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measurements: Image: 28.7 x 19.1 cm (11 5/16 x 7 1/2 in.); Paper: 35.5 x 27.8 cm (14 x 10 15/16 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
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inscriptions:
inscription: Written in black ink on recto: "NYC 1951 R. Frank [signed]"; in pencil on verso: "204";
"NYC 1951 / Lines 18 / 541 / RF21"
translation:
remark:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920-1950
opening date: 2021-07-11T04:00:00
A New York Minute: Street Photography, 1920-1950. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-November 7, 2021).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'Main gallery rotation (Gallery 229A): April 11, 2016 -', 'opening_date': '2016-04-11T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
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fun fact:
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wall description:
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
page number: Reproduced: P. 169
url:
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IMAGES