I Shutter to Think #6: RIP Robert Frank

A great photojournalist left us this week at age 94. Robert Frank’s documentary photography has been described as “visually raw,” owing to his realistic, gritty portrayals of everyday life in mid-century America.

Frank’s best-known work was the book “The Americans,” a collection of black-and-white photographs from his Guggenheim Foundation-funded, cross-country trips in the 1950s during which he amassed over 28,000 Leica images. He was a Jack Kerouac on silver nitrate, and his thirst for travel and truth served as a guide for the Beat Generation.

The Swiss-American Frank exposed newly comfortable, post-war Americans to poverty, racism, and isolation at a moment when few had the appetite for it. Not surprisingly, “The Americans” was panned by critics at the time and languished in mainstream circles until it later became an iconic and  influential force. Critics thought Frank’s work was poorly lit, sometimes unfocused, and cropped in unusual ways. Of course, this is what made his efforts singular and great.

He was deeply inspired by Walker Evans’ 1938 book, “American Photographs.” He was fortunate, as well, that the great Edward Steichen took an interest in him and even helped him secure the Guggenheim grant.

Frank initially loved the idea of America, but he became increasingly disillusioned by its reality. Frank was once arrested in Arkansas. It seems that a local sheriff thought his foreign accent meant that he must have been a Communist of some kind. Making matters worse, those local police officials were also standard-issue anti-Semites. When they found the Guggenheim Foundation award letter in Frank’s belongings, they concluded he must have been a dangerous Jew, too. Some things never change. Is it any wonder that personal experience forges artistic expression?

Images courtesy of PBS and  Robert Frank Photography.