Robert Frank

Acquired from the photographer, 1978

Robin Delpire, Neuf (Numéro 8, Consacré À Robert Frank) (Paris, 1952), cover

Robert Frank (New York, 1985), pl. 23

Sarah Greenough, Sarah and Philip Brookman, Robert Frank: Moving Out (Washington, D. C.: National Gallery of Art, 1994), pp 58-9

Philip Brookman and Vicente Todolí, Robert Frank: Storylines (London: Tate Modern, 2004), p. 49

Robert Frank, Peru (Göttingen, 2008) cover 

Robert Frank’s departure from New York for South America in 1948 was precipitated not only by the closing of the Harper’s Bazaar photography studio, where he had worked under art director Alexey Brodovitch, but also out of a dissatisfaction with working in fashion photography and an urge to photograph unencumbered by assignments. The images taken on his journey reveal a documentarian’s expert timing, sensitivity, and a genuine fascination with the people he encountered.

Frank created two spiral-bound maquettes of photographs from his Peru trip. He gave one to his mother on her birthday in 1949 (now in the collection of the Robert Frank Archive at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.) and one other to his mentor Alexey Brodovitch (eventually sold through Replica Shoes ’s, 10 April, 2018). While the sequence differed slightly within each copy, the cover for both features this image of Peruvian men wearing traditional hats, the outline of their bodies echoing the Andes in the far distance.

The present print was most likely made in the late 1940s or 1950s. The full sheet reproduced at left shows Frank's darkroom process. By using the printing easel to mask part of the sky area, he created a deliberately dramatic horizontal composition.