Robert Frank Art
American, Swiss, 1924-2019
Though he was born in Switzerland, photographer Robert Frank’s greatest legacy was his representation of places and figures across the United States, the bulk of which was published in a seminal book titled The Americans.
Frank emigrated to America in 1948, settling in New York City, where he was hired as a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar by the magazine’s legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch, who also recruited Lisette Model, Richard Avedon and mid-century-era style-setting couple Leslie Gill and Frances McLaughlin-Gill. Frank’s artistic style — and use of a 35mm Leica, an unconventional choice in the fashion world — proved not to be a fit, however, and he left the job after a few months. He went on to produce street photography around the city while working freelance jobs for the likes of Vogue, Life and other publications.
But it was leaving New York that would produce Frank’s most notable work. Throughout the 1950s, with the support of a Guggenheim Fellowship and guidance from Walker Evans, he embarked on a series of cross-country road trips, traversing nearly every state in the continental U.S. and producing a wealth of arresting photographs of its inhabitants. The black-and-white images pioneered what became known as a “snapshot aesthetic,” capturing a spontaneous moment. Subjects are often out of focus and rarely looking toward the camera, and rippled fabric or bent grasses often suggest movement and breeze.
After an initial publication in France, where the photographs appear alongside essays, The Americans was released in the U.S. in 1959 with a foreword by author Jack Kerouac, who espoused Frank’s ability to capture a uniquely American spirit.
“That crazy feeling in America,” Kerouac wrote, “when the sun is hot and music comes out of the jukebox or from a nearby funeral, that’s what Robert Frank has captured in tremendous photographs taken as he traveled on the road around practically forty-eight states in an old used car.”
Following the release of The Americans, Frank turned much of his attention to film. He would go on to produce a film version of Kerouac’s The Beat Generation and cofounded the New American Cinema Group in 1960. He died in 2019.
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Robert Frank The Americans (1968 MoMa edition)
By Robert Frank
Located in Brooklyn, NY
1968 MoMa edition of Robert Frank The Americans:
Cover: Fair overall vintage condition: minor creasing & age related wear.
Interior: Good overall vintage condition.
Bibliographic ...
Category
1960s Vintage Robert Frank Art
Materials
Paper
Hollywood
By Robert Frank
Located in New York, NY
It's hard to imagine an approach to photography that contrasted more with Robert Frank’s freewheeling style than Hollywood’s glamour shots of film stars in the 1950s. The stills depa...
Category
1950s Robert Frank Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
$25,000
Robert Frank Untitled from the Americans, 1958, Beats Culture, Black & White
By Robert Frank
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Robert Frank Untitled from the Americans, 1958, Beats Culture, Black & White.
Photogravure print, mid-century, France,wax tissue mounted on conservation matboard.
Influenced by the work of Jakob Tuggener and Bill Brandt, as well as Walker Evans, Frank, a native of Switzerland, Frank was fascinated by documentary photography and the notion and image of "America." Frank secured a Guggenheim fellowship in 1955 to do something new and unconstrained by commercial diktats. "The Americans" was first published in 1958 in France, before its first run in the US in 1959. The photographs were shocking and notable for their distanced view of both high and low strata of American society, creating a complicated portrait of a period that was, then and now, considered to be a skeptical portrait of post-WWII American values but also deeply empathetic and profoundly evocative of ubiquitous loneliness.
Frank found a tension in the gloss of American culture and wealth over race and class differences, which gave his 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.
Shortly before the book was published in France, Frank returned to the US (1957) and met Jack Kerouac on the sidewalk outside a party. They started chatting. Frank showed him some of his photographs. Kerouac immediately told Frank "Sure, I can write something about these pictures." Kerouac would write the introduction to the American edition of the book, published two years later.
Sociologist Howard S...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Robert Frank Art
Materials
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Paris - Robert Frank (Black and White Photography)
By Robert Frank
Located in London, GB
Paris - Robert Frank (Black and White Photography)
Signed and dated
Silver gelatin print, printed 1970s
14 x 11 inches
Frank’s photographs focused on elements of everyday life that ...
Category
1950s Robert Frank Art
Materials
Silver Gelatin
Price Upon Request
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Robert Frank art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Robert Frank art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Robert Frank in silver gelatin print and more. Not every interior allows for large Robert Frank art, so small editions measuring 11 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Murray Garrett, Steven Klein, and John Stryker. Robert Frank art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $50,000 and tops out at $70,000, while the average work can sell for $55,743.