Robert Frank - Photographs New York Monday, July 13, 2020 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Gift of the artist to the present owner, 1989

  • Literature

    The Americans, no. 36
    Greenough, Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, pp. 253, 469, 470, Contact no. 36
    Frank, The Lines of My Hand, n.p.
    'The Highway: Four Photographs by Robert Frank,' Current, November 1960, p. 33
    U. S. Camera Annual, 1958, p. 100

  • Catalogue Essay

    In 1986, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, sought to acquire 27 prints from Robert Frank’s The Americans for their permanent collection. In order to raise the funds necessary, The Met's Department of Photographs approached a small group of donors for assistance. Robert Frank, pleased at the prospect of the acquisition, offered, through Pace/MacGill Gallery, three prints from The Americans to be printed as a gift for each donor. The print on offer comes from one of the private collectors whose generous support helped make The Met's 1986 Robert Frank acquisition possible. Collectively, three images selected were: Trolley, New Orleans, 1955, Chicago-Political Rally, 1956, and US 285, New Mexico, 1956.

  • Artist Biography

    Robert Frank

    Swiss • 1924

    As one of the leading visionaries of mid-century American photography, Robert Frank has created an indelible body of work, rich in insight and poignant in foresight. In his famed series The Americans, Frank travelled the United States, capturing the parade of characters, hierarchies and imbalances that conveyed his view of the great American social landscape.

    Frank broke the mold of what was considered successful documentary photography with his "snapshot aesthetic." It is Frank's portrayal of the United States through grit and grain that once brought his work to the apex of criticism, but has now come to define the art of documentary photography.

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Photographs from a Private Collection, New York

128

US 285, New Mexico

1956
Gelatin silver print, printed circa 1986.
8 3/4 x 6 1/8 in. (22.2 x 15.6 cm)
Signed, titled and dated '1955' in ink in the margin.

Estimate
$30,000 - 50,000 

Sold for $87,500

Contact Specialist

Sarah Krueger
Head of Department, Photographs

Vanessa Hallett
Worldwide Head of Photographs and Deputy Chairwoman, Americas

+212 940 1245
 

Photographs

New York Auction 13 July 2020