Robert Frank

Robert Frank 1924 Zurich (Switzerland) - 2019 Inverness (Canada) The eminent Swiss-American photographer Robert Frank was born in Zurich on September 9, 1924. He is the second son of Hermann Frank, an interior designer who emigrates to Switzerland from Frankfurt am Main, and his wife Rosa Zucker from Basel. 1941-1946 Robert Frank completes an apprenticeship as a photographer in various photo studios in Zurich. In 1945 he became a Swiss citizen, and in 1947 he moved to the USA, but in the following years he commuted between the USA and Europe. In New York, Robert Frank worked as a fashion photographer for magazines such as "Harper's Bazaar" and "Junior Bazaar". He came into contact with other important photographers of the time such as Alexey Brodovitsch, Louis Faurer, Elliott Erwitt, Walker Evans, Edward Steichen, through whom he received important impulses. In 1953 Robert Frank gave up fashion photography in favor of free photojournalism. Pioneer of a new visual language in photography As a freelance photojournalist, Robert Frank continues to work for magazines such as "Life," "Look," "McCall's," "Charm," "Vogue" and others. In 1955 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, which enabled him to travel around America for the following two years. Robert Frank published the photographs taken on this trip in the groundbreaking photo book "Les Américains," which was published in 1958 by Robert Delpire in Paris. This collection of around 28,000 photographs, in which Robert Frank uses a 35 mm camera to document American society at the time of the Beat Generation, capturing seemingly everyday things such as jukeboxes, gas stations, and cars in expressive photographs, is considered Robert Frank's major work, and the photo book "Les Américains," in which he shows 83 of the best of these photos, becomes one of the most influential photo books to this day. Intuitive and spontaneous working method for an expressive visual language Robert Frank's black-and-white photographs, taken with a 35 mm camera, are snapshots, spontaneous and coarse-grained; whole sections of his images remain out of focus. Robert Frank deliberately foregrounds the media aspect of photography. Starting in 1959, Robert Frank also turns to film; the short film "Pull My Daisy" (1959) is the first of about twenty films made until the 1990s, including "Me and My Brother" (1965-1968), "Life Dances On" (1980), "Moving Pictures" (1994), "Last Supper (1992). In 1960 Robert Frank is a co-founder of the group "New American Cinema". In 1963 he receives American citizenship. Snapshot Aesthetics Robert Frank's working methods and the aesthetics of his images, which are roughly contrary to all the principles of "straight photography," pure photography with the greatest possible depth of field and precision, make him one of the most discussed camera artists of the 20th century, and yet he is one of the most important and groundbreaking for subsequent forms of expression to this day. Since 1990, the National Gallery of Art in Washington has housed the Robert Frank Collection, the most comprehensive collection of negatives, vintage prints, etc., from the distinguished photographer and filmmaker's entire creative period from 1937 to 2005. In 1994, the first major retrospective of Robert Frank's work is held there, which is also shown in Yokohama, Zurich, Amsterdam, New York and Los Angeles. Robert Frank dies on September 9, 2019 in Inverness, Canada.