Robert FrankAmerican, 1924–2019Family 6
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Washington, D.C., United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1990.28.3252
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- National Gallery of Art
- Image: National Gallery of Art — © the artist or rights holder
Meanwhile, in the life of Robert Frank
The whole life1958
“Les Américains” is published in Paris
Because his images depart from contemporary photographic standards, Frank has difficulty at first in securing an American publisher, and the book is first published in Paris by Robert Delpire in the Encyclopédie Essentielle series, with texts by Simone de Beauvoir, Erskine Caldwell, William Faulkner, Henry Miller and John Steinbeck positioned opposite the photographs.
1959
“The Americans” in the U.S.: harsh criticism
The book is finally published in the United States by Grove Press, without the texts but with Kerouac’s introduction, and initially receives substantial criticism: Popular Photography derides the images as meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and general sloppiness. Sales are poor at first too, but the popular Kerouac’s introduction helps it reach a larger audience, and over time The Americans becomes a seminal work in American photography and art history, the work with which Frank is most clearly identified.
1961
First solo show at the Art Institute of Chicago
He receives his first individual show, Robert Frank: Photographer, at the Art Institute of Chicago.
1962
Show at the Museum of Modern Art
In 1962 he also shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
![Ginevra de' Benci [obverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/8f29e3c9-a289-4d53-abf0-31a66e9e98fa/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
![Wreath of Laurel, Palm, and Juniper with a Scroll inscribed Virtutem Forma Decorat [reverse], Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1474/1478](https://api.nga.gov/iiif/ff62e8d0-45c4-498f-ad36-6358de827e04/full/!2400,2400/0/default.jpg)
