Assignment Research: Robert Frank

Robert Frank was born in Switzerland in 1924 but remains an important figure in American photography.  His book Les Americains was very influential and he had a fresh outsider's view of American society.  When he emigrated to the United States in 1947 he had high hopes for American society and culture however his view soon changed.  He saw a fast paced environment obsessed with money, a bleak and lonely place.  This view is often reflected in his work.

In 1955 he gained a commission to travel across America and record the American way of life, it took two years and 28,000 shots of which only 83 were chosen for publication in his book.  Frank's book was condemned when it was published and sales were poor but now it is rightfully recognised as a photographic masterpiece.

Trolley - New Orleans, 1955.



Frank showed through his photographs not a united post-war America but a society that was unequal and prejudiced.  The image above perfectly captures the diversity of the population all living in the same communities with tension between them.  Each window frames and separates each subject, it is not the subjects themselves that he was trying to capture but what they each represent.   He used a small hand held camera and only available light, sometimes his images look rushed and not technically perfect although in the above shot I feel the composition is very strong with two in the center and windows and subjects equal on both sides.

Movie Premiere - Hollywood, 1955.

It was not only the subject matter that was controversial but his style of shooting.  His pictures are often blurry, grainy and out of focus, not the usual crisp shots you would see.  The image above shows a Hollywood starlet but it is the background that is in focus and not the subject which breaks the usual rules. The image turns around the norm of staring at stars and reverses the obsession with celebrity.

I like the way Frank showed Americans a truth about themselves that they were uncomfortable about and that they would hide behind the illusion of the 'Good Old U.S.A.'  The book is considered to have changed the way America saw itself and broke all the rules and boundaries in the photographic world.

"Quality doesn't mean deep blacks and whatever tonal range. That's not quality, that's a kind of quality... Robert Frank is a quality that has something to do with what he's doing, what his mind is. It's not balancing out the sky to the sand and so forth. It's got to do with intention."

- Elliot Erwitt