| Robert Frank established a new iconography for contemporary America, comprised of bits of bus depots, lunch counters, strip developments, empty spaces, cars, and unknowable faces. This iconography has b ecome a common coin, [and] here the original acuity of Frank's own sensibility is alive and relevant." -- John Szarkowski, Museum of Modern Art |
Robert Frank's book The Americans represented a significant challenge to America's image of itself. Frank's pictures broke all the rules of photography. Photography before Frank was pristine: carefully focused, carefully lit. Frank would intentionally lose focus, his work was shadowy a nd grainy, full of unconventional cropping and angles. He broke the rules in order to be true to his vision of America he saw in his travels across the country in 1955 and 1956.Most photojournalism made around the time Frank was photographing The Americans was optimistic and upbeat, reflecting the attitude of a prosperous post-war America. Such attitudes can be seen in the popular 1955 exhibition: The Family of Man. Frank's work clashed with the prevailing trend in photography. In 1958 he wrote: "...I do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind - something has been accomplished.
When the Americans was first published abroad and in the U. S., it was sharply criticized. But the popularization of the beat movement - the second edition of The Americans featured an introduction by Jack Kerouac - helped Frank to reach a broader and more accepting audience.
Frank's once avant-garde style on the 1950's is now taken for granted. We see it daily in print advertisements for jeans or in music videos on MTV. But Frank's original photographs are still extraordinary and surprisingly contemporary. This exhibition at the Juanita Kreps Gallery - courtesy of the Addison Gallery of Art - is a rare opportunity to see the vintage photographs that radically changed photography and our relationship to it.
-- Elizabeth Kunreuther, Curator for the Center for Documentary Studies