Robert Frank: A Statement (1958)
Robert Frank's
The Americans, photographed in 1955 and 1956, after receiving
a Guggenheim Fellowship, rocked photography in 1958.
People had not seen the country the way Robert Frank did, and
in the style that he used.
Popular Photography Magazine wrote:
[A] meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken
horizons and general sloppiness.
In the introduction to the second edition of the book, Jack Kerouac,
author of the 1950s classic, On the Road, wrote:
Robert Frank, Swiss, unobtrusive, nice, with that little camera
that he raises and snaps, with one hand he sucked a sad poem right
out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of
the world.
John Szarkowski, curator of photography at the Museum of Modern
Art, wrote:
Robert Frank established a new iconography for contemporary America,
comprised of bits of bus depots, lunch counters, strip developments,
empty spaces, cars, and unknowable faces. This iconography has become
a common coin, [and] here the original acuity of Frank's own sensibility
is alive and relevant.
Elizabeth Kunreuther, curator at the Center for Documentary Studies,
wrote:
Robert Frank's book The Americans represented a significant challenge
to America's image of itself. Frank's pictures broke all the rules
of photography. Photography before Frank was pristine: carefully
focused, carefully lit. Frank would intentionally lose focus, his
work was shadowy and grainy, full of unconventional cropping and
angles. He broke the rules in order to be true to his vision of
America he saw in his travels across the country in 1955 and 1956.
Most photojournalism made around the time Frank was photographing
The Americans was optimistic and upbeat, reflecting the attitude
of a prosperous post-war America. Such attitudes can be seen in
the popular 1955 exhibition: The Family of Man. Frank's work clashed
with the prevailing trend in photography. In 1958 he wrote: "...I
do not anticipate that the onlooker will share my viewpoint. However,
I feel that if my photograph leaves an image on his mind - something
has been accomplished.
When the Americans was first published abroad and in the U. S.,
it was sharply criticized. But the popularization of the beat movement
- the second edition of The Americans featured an introduction by
Jack Kerouac - helped Frank to reach a broader and more accepting
audience.
Frank's once avant-garde style on the 1950's is now taken for
granted. We see it daily in print advertisements for jeans or in
music videos on MTV. But Frank's original photographs are still
extraordinary and surprisingly contemporary.
Go to
Robert Frank.
Robert Frank
I am grateful to the Guggenheim Foundation for
their confidence and the provisions they made for me to work freely
in my medium over a protracted period. When I applied for the Guggenheim
Fellowship, I wrote: "To produce an authentic contemporary document,
the visual impact should be such as will nullify explanation"
With these photographs, I have attempted to show
a cross-section of the American population. My effort was to express
it simply and without confusion. The view is personal and, therefore,
various facets of American life and society have been ignored. The
photographs were taken during 1955 and 1956; for the most part in
large cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and
in many other places during my Journey across the country. My book,
containing these photographs, will be published in Paris by Robert
Delpire, 1958.
I have been frequently accused of deliberately
twisting subject matter to my point of view. Above all, I know that
life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion
often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out
of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others—perhaps
the look of hope or the look of sadness. Also, it is always the
instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.
My photographs are not planned or composed in
advance and I do not anticipate that the on-looker will share my
viewpoint. However, I feel that if my photograph leaves an image
on his mind—something has been accomplished.
It is a different state of affairs for me to be
working on assignment for a magazine. It suggests to me the feeling
of a hack writer or a commercial illustrator. Since I sense that
my ideas, my mind and my eye are not creating the picture but that
the editors' minds and eyes will finally determine which of my pictures
will be reproduced to suit the magazines' purposes.
I have a genuine distrust and "mefiance" toward
all group activities. Mass production of uninspired photojournalism
and photography without thought becomes anonymous merchandise. The
air becomes infected with the "smell" of photography. If the photographer
wants to be an artist, his thoughts cannot be developed overnight
at the corner drugstore.
I am not a pessimist, but looking at a contemporary
picture magazine makes it difficult for me to speak about the advancement
of photography, since photography today is accepted without question,
and is also presumed to be understood by all—even children. I feel
that only the integrity of the individual photographer can raise
its level.
The work of two contemporary photographers, Bill
Brandt of England and the American, Walker Evans, have influenced
me. When I first looked at Walker Evans' photographs, I thought
of something Malraux wrote: "To transform destiny into awareness."
One is embarrassed to want so much for oneself. But, how else are
you going to justify your failure and your effort?1
1 Frank, R. (1958)
A statement. U. S. Camera Annual, 115.
