Robert Frank Prints
American, Swiss, 1924-2019
Though he was born in Switzerland, photographer Robert Frank’s greatest legacy was his representation of places and figures across the United States, the bulk of which was published in a seminal book titled The Americans.
Frank emigrated to America in 1948, settling in New York City, where he was hired as a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar by the magazine’s legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch, who also recruited Lisette Model, Richard Avedon and mid-century-era style-setting couple Leslie Gill and Frances McLaughlin-Gill. Frank’s artistic style — and use of a 35mm Leica, an unconventional choice in the fashion world — proved not to be a fit, however, and he left the job after a few months. He went on to produce street photography around the city while working freelance jobs for the likes of Vogue, Life and other publications.
But it was leaving New York that would produce Frank’s most notable work. Throughout the 1950s, with the support of a Guggenheim Fellowship and guidance from Walker Evans, he embarked on a series of cross-country road trips, traversing nearly every state in the continental U.S. and producing a wealth of arresting photographs of its inhabitants. The black-and-white images pioneered what became known as a “snapshot aesthetic,” capturing a spontaneous moment. Subjects are often out of focus and rarely looking toward the camera, and rippled fabric or bent grasses often suggest movement and breeze.
After an initial publication in France, where the photographs appear alongside essays, The Americans was released in the U.S. in 1959 with a foreword by author Jack Kerouac, who espoused Frank’s ability to capture a uniquely American spirit.
“That crazy feeling in America,” Kerouac wrote, “when the sun is hot and music comes out of the jukebox or from a nearby funeral, that’s what Robert Frank has captured in tremendous photographs taken as he traveled on the road around practically forty-eight states in an old used car.”
Following the release of The Americans, Frank turned much of his attention to film. He would go on to produce a film version of Kerouac’s The Beat Generation and cofounded the New American Cinema Group in 1960. He died in 2019.
Find Robert Frank photography on 1stDibs.
to
1
1
Height
to
Width
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
102
93
91
81
Creator: Robert Frank
Robert Frank Untitled from the Americans, 1958, Beats Culture, Black
White
By Robert Frank
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Robert Frank Untitled from the Americans, 1958, Beats Culture, Black
White.
Photogravure print, mid-century, France,wax tissue mounted on conservation matboard.
Influenced by the work of Jakob Tuggener and Bill Brandt, as well as Walker Evans, Frank, a native of Switzerland, Frank was fascinated by documentary photography and the notion and image of "America." Frank secured a Guggenheim fellowship in 1955 to do something new and unconstrained by commercial diktats. "The Americans" was first published in 1958 in France, before its first run in the US in 1959. The photographs were shocking and notable for their distanced view of both high and low strata of American society, creating a complicated portrait of a period that was, then and now, considered to be a skeptical portrait of post-WWII American values but also deeply empathetic and profoundly evocative of ubiquitous loneliness.
Frank found a tension in the gloss of American culture and wealth over race and class differences, which gave his photographs a clear contrast to those of most contemporary American photojournalists, as did his use of unusual focus, low lighting and cropping that deviated from accepted photographic techniques.
Shortly before the book was published in France, Frank returned to the US (1957) and met Jack Kerouac on the sidewalk outside a party. They started chatting. Frank showed him some of his photographs. Kerouac immediately told Frank "Sure, I can write something about these pictures." Kerouac would write the introduction to the American edition of the book, published two years later.
Sociologist Howard S...
Category
Mid-20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
Related Items
John Kacere Nude Prints
Located in Atlanta, GA
John Kacere nude prints, American, circa 1970s. The top print measures 18.25" H x 27.5" W. The bottom left measures 15" H x 23" W. The bottom right measures 14.75" H x 22" W. They ha...
Category
1970s American Mid-Century Modern Vintage Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Glass, Wood, Paper
Christo / The Pont Neuf Wrapped / Project For Paris, 1984 Lithograph
By Nouvelles Images, Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Located in New York, NY
Christo / The Pont Neuf Wrapped / Project for Paris, 1984 / Collage En Deux Partes
Offset lithograph in colors on woven paper, published by Nouvelles Ima...
Category
Late 20th Century French Modern Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
$1,800
H 32.25 in W 27.3 in D 1.3 in
Venetian Serenity: Capturing the Essence of Calle della Madonna, 1890
Located in Langweer, NL
Photogravure of Calle della Madonna, a street near Ponte di Rialto in Venice, Italy. This print originates from 'Calli e Canali - Streets and Canals in ...
Category
Late 19th Century Antique Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
$239
H 21.26 in W 14.18 in D 0.02 in
Vintage Nude Black and White Photograph by Josef Ehm
By Josef Ehm
Located in Rochester, NY
Vintage black and white photograph, photography by Josef Ehm. "Resting Model II", circa 1960s, gelatin silver print.
Josef Ehm:
Czech, 1909-1989.
Born in Habartov.
Apprenticed i...
Category
Mid-20th Century Czech Mid-Century Modern Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
$950 Sale Price
42% Off
H 13.5 in W 10.5 in D 1 in
Pl. 88 Antique Print of the Tintoretto House in Venice, circa 1890
Located in Langweer, NL
Photogravure of the Tintoretto House in Venice. The house in which Jacopo Robusti, surnamed the Tintoretto, lived from 1574 till his death in 1594. It is located close to the Campo dei Mori in the protected district of Cannaregio.
This print originates from 'Calli e Canali...
Category
Late 19th Century Antique Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
$239
H 21.26 in W 14.18 in D 0.02 in
Vintage Robert Rauschenberg
Envelope
Lithograph
By Robert Rauschenberg
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Vintage Robert Rauschenberg lithograph, 1970
Title: "Envelope"
Photo: mechanical lithograph on laminated paper with a centre fold. Features dou...
Category
1970s Vintage Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
Frank Lloyd Wright American Architect of the Twentieth Century Book 1st Ed.1993
By (after) Frank Lloyd Wright
Located in Moreno Valley, CA
Frank Lloyd Wright American Architect of the Twentieth century 1993.
by Robin Langley Sommer.
1st Edition, hardcover book.
Frank Lloyd Wright: American Architect for the Twentieth Century Hardcover book.
Frank Lloyd Wright is recognized as a dominant figure in the history of modern architecture. His life and revolutionary work is described in this volume filled with more than 180 photographs illustrating 60 of his most-beloved buildings.
An impressive, beautifully illustrated volume examines the creations of America's beloved architect, including interior furnishings, stunning private homes, and unique public buildings, with an introduction providing insight into his private life as well as his enduring work.
Publisher ? : ? Smithmark Pub
Language ? : ? English
Item Weight ? : ? 3.6 pounds
Dimensions ? : ? 11 x 0.75 x 14.75 inches.
Recognized as a dominant figure in the history of modern architecture and the greatest design influenced in the United States during the first
half of the twentieth century, Frank Lloyd Wright created, during his long and prolific career, a unique body of work that endures to this day. Beginning in 1889 with the design for his own house in Oak Park, Illinois, and continuing with hundreds of designs for residential, commercial, ecclesiastical, educational and civic structures, Wright's varied architecture is unified only by the underlying organized principles of change and innovation. Revolutionizing residential architecture with the disparate expressions of his simple creed, "out of the ground and into the light! Wright's houses feature a sense of unity and privacy, an a free flow of interior space. Wright sought synthesis in his projects by designing whenever possible, everything from furniture, art glass and lighting fixtures to table lines, carpets and carports. In his Prairies Houses, textile-block structures and Usonian houses, culminating in his masterpiece, Fallingwater, Wright experimented with forms, materials and technology in ever-evolving designs. Wright designed such ambitious commercial masterworks as the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, the S.C. Johnson and Son Administration Building and Research Tower, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum-the alter for which he is perhaps best known. This volume pays tribute to the life and works of frank Lloyd Wright with more than 180 photographs illustrating 60 selected buildings, complemented by a descriptive and incisive text. Front cover: Fallinger, the Edgar J. Kaufmann, Sr. House (1935) in Mill Run, Pennsylvania. Photographer for The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. Back Cover: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (1943-1956) in New York City Photo by Ezra Stroller...
Category
Late 20th Century American Mid-Century Modern Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
$95
H 14.75 in W 11 in D 0.75 in
Anna Condo, From My Garden #1, Dye Sublimation Print on Aluminum, US, 2021
By Anna Condo
Located in New York, NY
Anna Condo, a filmmaker and a photographer born in Armenia and raised in France, has been photographing flowers, her "ultimate muse," since 2013. The medium became a creative outlet ...
Category
2010s American Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Aluminum
$2,950
H 16 in W 12 in D 0.5 in
"Athansor, " Horse Color White Framed Photograph by Lisa Houlgrave
Located in New York, NY
Lisa Houlgrave's portrait features the mighty Andalusian stallion, Novelisto D, who played Colin Farrell's guardian angel, Athansor, In Warner Brother's...
Category
2010s American Modern Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
$6,500 / item
H 43 in W 60 in D 1.5 in
Pl. 50 Antique Print of Canals in the Giudecca Island of Venice
circa 1890
Located in Langweer, NL
Photogravure of canals in the Giudecca Island of Venice, Italy. Giudecca is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, in northern Italy. It is part of the sestiere of Dorsoduro and is a locality of the comune of Venice.
This print originates from 'Calli e Canali...
Category
Late 19th Century Antique Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Paper
$239
H 14.18 in W 21.26 in D 0.02 in
Robert Frank - Flower Is
By Robert Frank
Located in New York, NY
Flower Is… “is one of Frank’s great books (which means it is one of the greatest of photobooks), demonstrating magisterially, as he himself says in the boo...
Category
Late 20th Century Japanese Robert Frank Prints
Robert Werling (American, B.1946) Black And Photograph, Mountain Landscape
By Robert Werling
Located in Bridgeport, CT
Pencil signed lower right. A mountain landscape with the mist over the forest in the winter. He is known for his mountain views in the American west
full paper Site 14 3/4” x 18 1/2...
Category
20th Century American Rustic Robert Frank Prints
Materials
Wood, Paper
$525
H 1 in W 26 in D 24 in
Robert Frank prints for sale on 1stDibs.
Robert Frank prints are available for sale on 1stDibs. These distinctive items are frequently made of paper and are designed with extraordinary care. There are many options to choose from in our collection of Robert Frank prints, although gray editions of this piece are particularly popular. Many of the original prints by Robert Frank were created in the mid-century modern style in united states during the mid-20th century. If you’re looking for additional options, many customers also consider prints by Herman Roderick Volz, Werner Drewes, and Leonard Baskin. Prices for Robert Frank prints can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — on 1stDibs, these items begin at $1,850 and can go as high as $1,850, while a piece like these, on average, fetch $1,850.