Meanwhile, in the life of Robert Frank
The whole life1949–1950
Travels in South America and Europe; a hand-made book on Peru
He soon leaves again to travel in South America and Europe, creates another hand-made book of photographs shot in Peru, and returns to the U.S. in 1950.
1950
The group show “51 American Photographers” at MoMA
The year is momentous for Frank: after meeting Edward Steichen he takes part in the group show 51 American Photographers at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
1950
Married: Mary Frank
1950–1953
Disillusionment with America and a brief move to Paris
Though initially optimistic about American society and culture, Frank’s perspective quickly changes as he confronts the fast pace of American life and what he sees as an overemphasis on money: he now sees America as an often bleak and lonely place, and his dissatisfaction with the control editors exercise over his work colors the experience. He continues to travel, moving his family briefly to Paris.
1953
Back in New York and the “New York School”
He returns to New York and works as a freelance photojournalist for magazines including McCall’s, Vogue and Fortune. Associating with photographers such as Saul Leiter and Diane Arbus, he helps form what Jane Livingston has termed the New York School of photographers of the 1940s and 1950s.
