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Robert Frank

Rarities

February 4 – April 3, 2021

Untitled (Flags and Cars), 1955/56, Print Date 1978

Untitled (Flags and Cars), 1955/56

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on verso

Hollywood Premiere, 1955, Print Date 1970s

Hollywood Premiere, 1955

Print Date 1970s

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Daytona, Florida. 1962 , Print Date 1970s

Daytona, Florida. 1962 

Print Date 1970s

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Butte, Montana, 1956 , Print Date 1978

Butte, Montana, 1956 

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Mary, 1956 , Print Date 1978

Mary, 1956 

Print Date 1978

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Los Angeles, 1955 (Wayman Hotel) , Print Date 1978

Los Angeles, 1955 (Wayman Hotel) 

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Lusk, Wyoming. 1956 , Print Date 1970s

Lusk, Wyoming. 1956 

Print Date 1970s

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Platte River, Tennessee. 1958 , Print Date 1978

Platte River, Tennessee. 1958 

Print Date 1978

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print 

Signed on recto

Beaufort, South Carolina. 1955, Print Date 1978

Beaufort, South Carolina. 1955

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Hoover Dam, 1955, Printed Date 1978

Hoover Dam, 1955

Printed Date 1978

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Tunnel NY/NJ, 1956 , Print Date 1960

Tunnel NY/NJ, 1956 

Print Date 1960

11 x 14 inch vintage gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Tennessee, 1955 , Print Date 1978

Tennessee, 1955 

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Georgetown, 1956, Print Date 1978

Georgetown, 1956

Print Date 1978

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Lusk Drive-In Movie, 1956, Print Date 1978

Lusk Drive-In Movie, 1956

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

San Francisco, 1956, Print Date 1960s 

San Francisco, 1956

Print Date 1960s 

14 x 11 inch vintage gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

U.S. 30, Nebraska. 1955 , Print Date 1978

U.S. 30, Nebraska. 1955 

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Viva At The Airport, 1962, Print Date 1960s

Viva At The Airport, 1962

Print Date 1960s

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

San Francisco, 1955, Print Date 1955

San Francisco, 1955

Print Date 1955

11 x 14 inch vintage gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Dody, Mary, Andrea, and Barbara, New York, 1958. , 11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Dody, Mary, Andrea, and Barbara, New York, 1958. 

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto 

Wyoming, 1956, Printed 1978

Wyoming, 1956

Printed 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Mississippi, Near Baton Rouge. 1956, Print Date 1978

Mississippi, Near Baton Rouge. 1956

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

CBS Studio Hollywood, 1955, Print Date 1978

CBS Studio Hollywood, 1955

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

William Klein and Elsa Maxwell NYC, 1955, 11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

William Klein and Elsa Maxwell NYC, 1955

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

 Whiteville, North Carolina. 1955 , Print Date 1978 

 Whiteville, North Carolina. 1955 

Print Date 1978 

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

signed on verso

Venice, 1962, Print Date 1978

Venice, 1962

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Untitled (Zero Mostel), 1960 , Print Date 1960

Untitled (Zero Mostel), 1960 

Print Date 1960

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on verso

 Untitled (Men in Hats, Backs to Camera), 1950s, 11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

 Untitled (Men in Hats, Backs to Camera), 1950s

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

St. Louis, 1948, Print Date 1978 

St. Louis, 1948

Print Date 1978 

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

South Carolina (Soldier at Funeral), 1955 , Print Date 1978 

South Carolina (Soldier at Funeral), 1955 

Print Date 1978 

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

South Carolina 1956 (Shack & Car) , Print date 1978

South Carolina 1956 (Shack & Car) 

Print date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

 

Cemetary, San Francisco. 1956, Print Date 1978

Cemetary, San Francisco. 1956

Print Date 1978

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Puerto Rico ca. 1962, Print Date 1978 

Puerto Rico ca. 1962

Print Date 1978 

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Pablo, 1958, Print Date ca. 1975

Pablo, 1958

Print Date ca. 1975

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

NYC (Pablo, Mary and Sam Yu's Painting on the Bowery), 1954, Print Date ca. 1960 

NYC (Pablo, Mary and Sam Yu's Painting on the Bowery), 1954

Print Date ca. 1960 

14 x 11 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

 

NYC, 1958 (Old Man and Pablo), Print Date 1978

NYC, 1958 (Old Man and Pablo)

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

NYC, 1949 (Jukebox) , Print Date 1978

NYC, 1949 (Jukebox) 

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

 

Nevada, 1955 , Print Date 1955 

Nevada, 1955 

Print Date 1955 

11 x 14 inch vintage gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

Los Angeles Picnic Ground, 1958 , Print Date 1955-1960

Los Angeles Picnic Ground, 1958 

Print Date 1955-1960

11 x 14 inch vintage gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

California Main Street, 1956, Print Date 1978

California Main Street, 1956

Print Date 1978

11 x 14 inch gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

14th Street NYC, 1953, Print Date 1955 

14th Street NYC, 1953

Print Date 1955 

14 x 11 inch vintage gelatin silver print

Signed on recto

11th Street, NYC. 1955 , Print Date 1955 

11th Street, NYC. 1955 

Print Date 1955 

11 x 14 inch vintage gelatin silver print

Signed on verso

Press Release

ROBERT FRANK – RARITIES

Opening February 4, 2021

Danziger at Fetterman is pleased to announce an exhibition devoted to rare prints and rarely seen images from the American photographs of Robert Frank.  The exhibition will be comprised of 20 mostly unpublished works from the years 1955 – 1957 when Frank was traveling around America shooting what was to become not just his seminal work “The Americans”, but a seminal work in the medium of photography.

Born in Zurich in 1924, Frank emigrated to America in 1947.  As an immigrant, Frank was fascinated by his new country and after his first road trips he applied for a Guggenheim Fellowship to fund a longer and deeper journey around all parts of the country.  In his proposal to the Guggenheim Foundation Frank wrote: “The photographing of America is a large order - read at all literally, the phrase would be an absurdity.” The “total production” of such a project, he added, would be “voluminous.”   Nevertheless, the proposal was accepted and Frank embarked on a three-year journey around America during which he took over 28,000 photographs.

Eighty-three of the images were subsequently published in the book “The Americans” leaving 27,900 or so frames which could have easily been edited into numerous subsequent volumes but over the years Frank was content to just make prints of the images he felt were the most resonant.  Frank printed these images in the same 11 x 14 inch format as the ones included in the book.

What Frank brought to the medium was an improvisational quality that saw the world in a different but more truthful way than the commonly perceived visual clichés of his time. While the often dark and idiosyncratic nature of his vision shocked many people, it led the way to much of what has followed in photography. 

Sarah Greenough, senior curator of photography at the National Gallery of Art in Washington noted:  “Frank revealed a people who were plagued by racism, ill-served by their politicians, and rendered increasingly numb by the rising culture of consumerism.  But it’s also important to point out that he found new areas of beauty in those simple, overlooked corners of American life - in diners, or on the street. He pioneered a whole new subject matter that we now define as icons: cars, jukeboxes, even the road itself. All of these things, coupled with his style - which is seemingly intuitive, immediate, and off-kilter - were radically new at the time.”

About the prints:

By the late 1970s, Frank had turned his primary attention away from photography to film making and in order to fund both his life and his film work, in 1978 he sold his existing archive of prints along with several hundred prints made to complete the transaction. The prints exhibited here all come from that purchase — the largest private collection of this most important figure in the history of the medium.