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. To Robert Frank I now give this message: You got eyes. -Jack Kerouac, from the Introduction to The Americans
I had the honor of not only viewing the inspiration exhibit Looking In: Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans,’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but meeting the charming photographer and living legend Robert Frank himself, hearing him speak about his journey as a foreigner photographing America in the height of the Cold War. As a photographer and educator, at a time when photography legends are leaving us and digital photography has antiquated techniques we used just a few years ago, it was a blessing to be present at such a unique and memorable event celebrating an evolutionary artist and witnessing this seminal body of work.
The exhibit can be viewed from September 22, 2009-January 3, 2010 at the MET.
From the MET website,
This exhibition celebrates the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of The Americans, Robert Frank’s influential suite of black-and-white photographs made on a cross-country road trip in 1955–56. Although Frank’s depiction of American life was criticized when the book was released in the U.S. in 1959, it soon became recognized as a masterpiece of street photography. Born in Switzerland in 1924, Frank is considered one of the great living masters of photography. The exhibition features all 83 photographs published in The Americans and will be the first time that this body of work is presented to a New York audience. In addition, the exhibition includes contact sheets that Frank used to create the book; earlier photographs made in Europe, Peru, and New York; a short film by the artist on his life; and his later re-use of iconic images from the series.
