-
@ punctum
2023-07-29 08:32:13Robert Frank, born on November 9, 1924, in Zurich, Switzerland, was the child of Rosa (Zucker) and Hermann Frank, of Jewish origin. Though his family managed to remain safe during the Second World War in Switzerland, the looming threat of Nazism informed his understanding of oppression, invariably seeping into his subsequent work. Frank was drawn to photography partly as a means to escape from his business-oriented family and home. He was mentored by various photographers and graphic designers before he crafted his first handmade book of photographs, "40 Photos," in 1946. At the age of 23, Frank migrated to the United States, seeking to broaden his photographic horizon. He found employment in New York as a fashion photographer for Harper's Bazaar. However, the rigidity and artifice of fashion photography failed to satiate his creative yearning. He soon quit his job and embarked on journeys through South America and Europe, creating a second handmade book of photographs taken in Peru.
Upon returning to the United States in 1950, Frank began to experience a transformation in his photographic perspective. Influenced by his disillusionment with the frantic pace of American life and its emphasis on money, he began to perceive America as a place often desolate and lonely. This vision is reflected in his subsequent photography.
The aesthetic context of the subjective photography of the 1950s, which Frank adopted, was marked by a paradigm shift in how photography was understood and practiced. It involved a move away from the apparent objectivity and neutrality that characterized documentary and journalistic photography, to adopt a more personal and subjective approach. Images ceased to be seen simply as faithful representations of reality to become the photographer's personal interpretations.
In this context, Robert Frank stood out for his direct, unadorned style. His photographs did not aim to beautify or idealize reality, but to capture it as it is, with all its imperfections and contradictions. For Frank, the camera was a tool to explore and question society, rather than merely documenting it. His most emblematic work, "The Americans," first published in Paris in 1958, is a chronicle of his journey through 48 states of the United States. The book, composed of 83 images selected from 28,000 shots, offers an unconventional and critical view of American life. Through his images, Frank portrays a society marked by racial and class inequality, loneliness, and helplessness. The images in "The Americans" are often dark, blurry, and off-kilter, contributing to a sense of unease and instability. Robert Frank continued to work intensely throughout his career. Here is a list of some of his most representative works, ordered by year:
- 1946: Published his first handmade book of photographs, "40 Photos."
- 1947: Moved to the United States and began working for Harper's Bazaar.
- 1950: Participated in the group exhibition "51 American Photographers" at the MoMA and published his second book of photographs from his journey through Peru.
- 1955: Received a Guggenheim Fellowship to travel and photograph the United States, a project that would result in "The Americans."
- 1958: Published "The Americans" in Paris.
- 1959: "The Americans" was published in the United States.
- 1961: Had his first solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago.
- 1962: Exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
- 1983: The French magazine "Les Cahiers de la photographie" devoted two special issues to his work.
- 2008: A new edition of "The Americans" was published to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its first publication.
- 2009: The exhibition "Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans" was shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Robert Frank's influence on contemporary photography is undeniable. His subjective and critical vision opened new pathways for understanding and practicing photography, shifting it away from conventionalism and closer to a more artistic and personal conception.