Thesis & Background: Your thesis about the body of work and point of view you’ve chosen to explore, as well as background about the artists that lead you to your thesis.

Robert Frank and The Americans

Robert Frank was born in Switzerland on November 9th 1924 to Jewish parents named Rosa and Hermann Frank. Even though his family was not living in Nazi Germany, he still grew up feeling the oppression and turned to photography as a means of escape. He trained under a few local photographers and graphic designers, before publishing his own photo book in 1946 and emigrating to the US in 1947. He quickly was hired as a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar, where he spent a few years working before traveling to Peru. After returning to America in 1950, he met Edward Steichen and was featured in the group show 51 American Photographers at the Museum of Modern Art. Robert Frank and his family then took several road trips across America as he spent time photographing cities such as Detroit, Dearborn, Savannah, New Orleans, Houston, and several others.

While Frank was initially infatuated with American culture, his perspective soon changed as he saw the overemphasis in America on money, and the racism, greed and hatred he experienced and saw. On his road trips with his family, there were several antisemetic incidents where he was thrown in jail or told to leave town simply because he was Jewish. I think one of the important themes that is prevalent in Robert Frank’s The Americans, is a look beneath the surface that reveals alienation, angst, and loneliness as seen through mass consumerism, racism, and the divide between the rich and the poor. Robert Frank has done a masterful job of exposing some of the hidden darker Aspects of American society.

The first photo I have chosen is one of his most famous, and depicts a bus when black people were forced to sit in the back of the bus. As can be clearly seen, the white people are in the front rows, and at a certain point it is only black people all the way to the back. This photo is important because it reveals that everything in America is not as great as it seems but there is still rampant racism.

Another important photo that again reflects the racism in America is the one on the left. The young baby girl is white and she is clearly very young. As was classic during this time, her nurse is black and takes care of the wealthy upper class. This photo was taken in Savannah, Georgia, a place where racism was at its strongest.

The final photo I selected is of a crowded lunch counter in Detroit. Robert Frank offers an outside unbiased perspective of America as he is a foreigner who was accustomed to the ways of the Europeans. He was surprised at the loneliness he observed during the lunch hour as even though everyone is sitting side by side, they are complete strangers and do not engage with each other. Frank is accustomed to long European lunches where people spend time together and discuss their lives. I have selected this photo because it exemplifies the loneliness he viewed in America.

Throughout the photos Robert Frank presented in The Americans, there is an underlying theme of exposing the darker side of America and the people who live there. In particular, Robert Frank’s photos catch my eye because they do not shy away from darkness, but instead, they expand upon it. While the photo above of the segregated bus exposes a time of horrible racism and darkness in America, Frank does not hide from this but rather reveals it to his viewers. I think the techniques Frank uses to take his photos are very successful. Even though he faced antisemitism and hatred on his journey across America, he did not let it stop him from completing his goal and photographing America. His work is still relevant and influential today and is one of the most important photographic projects of the 20th century.

Josh,

This is an excellent introductory statement for your final project. I particularly appreciate the attention you pay to Frank as a Jewish photographer. You need to upload the three images that you discuss. Those are excellent choices. As you move forward with the final project, pay attention to your writing. In your first sentence, for example, you write “to a Jewish parents”; you misspell oppression. These details are important. So are the citations. While there is a page at the end for your sources, you should also include cites as hyperlinks to sources that you’ve used within the text itself. I look forward to seeing how you develop this final project.

DDM

Methodology: What are the methods your artist uses in his/her photography? How did you attempt to see through his/her point of view by taking your own photos?

Robert Frank is one of the most iconic modern Jewish photographers of the twentieth century. He is famous for his book The Americans, and the unique style of photography he presents the viewers with. Before Robert Frank could reach his full potential as a photographer, he had several mentors whose advice and style contributed to making Robert Frank the great photographer he was. One of his primary mentors, Edward Steichen, offered him a suggestion that changed the way Frank would approach his subjects and photography as a whole. 

After talking to Frank, Steichen recommended that Frank take into account the importance of getting close to his subjects both physically and emotionally. Not only was it enough for Frank to get physically closer to his subjects, but to best capture the likeness of the person he needed to understand who they were as a person by spending time with them. For example, Frank traveled to Wales in 1953, where he lived with a coal miner named Ben James for several days and would follow him to work along with his daily habits. This significant time investment in his photos became a big part of Robert Frank’s approach to photography. He captured this photo below after spending considerable time with the miner Ben James in 1953.

Another essential part of Frank’s approach to photography was thinking about important symbols he wanted to exemplify through his photos before even taking them. Before his tour of America that lead to The Americans, Robert Frank decided he wanted to focus on several symbols including Flags, Cowboys, Rich Socialites, Juke-Boxes, Politicians, and many others. By thinking about themes for his photos ahead of time, Frank was better able to decide how to approach and set up his photographs to be in line with those ideas. 

In the many Robert Frank photos I have looked at, it does not appear that he staged his photos but instead captured them in the moment. As seen with the example above, Frank did not ask Ben James to hold up his coffee cup, but rather by spending much time at his home, Frank was able to capture what would appear to be a mundane moment and turn it into a great photograph. I have also noticed that many of his photographs were captured in the midst of movement, so if the viewer focuses on different aspects of the photos they can imagine motion. For example, the lunch counter photo I discussed in my intro paragraph, or the photo of the car below, are stills but taken so the viewer can imagine twenty people loudly eating lunch, or a car racing by. 

I can go about taking photos like Robert Frank by first identifying a theme or idea I want to capture through my photos, and then spending much time with people around me to find the best possible moment to capture the photo.  I plan to look at the theme of loneliness, and symbols such as flags and things left behind as they are an important part of American culture and something Robert Frank spent much of his time trying to capture. To best find photos that exemplify my theme, I will keep my camera with me and take many pictures throughout the weekend. Even though many may be useless, as were many of the photos of the miner, I will be able to take one or two photos that exemplify the theme that I am trying to capture: flags and loneliness in American culture.  

Josh,

Family is a big theme. Look back at what Frank had as symbols rather than themes: cowboys, politicians, flags. I think that you should rethink your methodology here and consider symbols rather than such a complicated concept as family.

DDM

Photos & Analysis: Presentation of your own photographs inspired by that point of view. Text articulating what taking your own pictures taught you about the photographer’s point of view and its relevance. What is liberating about the point of view you’ve chosen to explore? How does it challenge you to look at the world differently?

Photo Gallery 

I learned a lot as a photographer when choosing to take pictures with another famous photographer’s style in mind. Not only did I need to think about the reason Robert Frank took each of his photos, but I also needed to plan each photo to try to model Frank’s style. Frank focused on hidden loneliness in America, exploring this theme through symbols such as flags and other objects that were left behind. Frank took all of his photos in black and white, and rather than keeping my photos in color, I converted them to black and white, deciding that the loneliness I wanted to capture is better represented without color. As Frank explored America for two years while taking pictures, I focused a few pictures on America’s favorite pastime: baseball. While Frank did not directly focus on the sport, he wanted to emphasize loneliness, and the empty fields I have photographed leave the viewer feeling as though something is missing. Through the slideshow I will present, I will show different perspectives from the baseball fields to demonstrate the emptiness felt there. A place normally so full of life and happy children, the barren grounds are depressing and offer a hidden loneliness not apparent to everyone. 

Selected Images

Robert Frank is famous for taking pictures of flags and other symbols that he found to explain loneliness in America. Each of the images I selected for inclusion in my slide show was chosen for a specific reason, as I feel they all offer the viewer a sense of loneliness.

The first image, a car from the 1970s that is parked on the side of a house, appears left behind and useless. I chose this image because one of Robert Frank’s most famous photos is of a car passing him in the middle of the desert. Another famous Frank photo depicts an old forgotten car underneath a cover and below palm trees. While my image is not quite as striking, it offers the viewer something that has been left behind.

The next image, an empty rocking chair, stands out in my mind as the epitome of loneliness. Robert Frank’s photos were famous for capturing loneliness, and an empty rocking chair is exactly the type of scene he would have seen while driving through Texas or New Mexico. I can only imagine the scene; a storm crackles in the air as Robert Frank and his family drive through the desert. The old Native American man who was sitting in the chair has gone back inside, but it is still slowly rocking in the mind.

My final image depicts a flag hanging in the wind in front of a white fence. Frank is famous for taking pictures of flags throughout America, and the long fenced-in porch is a style common in older houses. The flag is a symbol of patriotism in America, and families hang the flag outside their house to support their country. Frank recognized the power of the American flag, and wanted to embrace this symbol through several flag photos. 

I believe the photos I took capture several of the themes Frank wanted to portray through his tour of America and subsequent book The Americans. In addition to taking photos of American flags, one of the symbols Frank focused on, I also took photos that I felt offered the viewer a sense of loneliness. Both the empty chair and the forgotten car are sadder photos whose objects have seen better times. In addition to symbolizing lonliness, the images connect to Frank’s philosophy of looking below the surface when taking his pictures. On the surface, the two images appear to be mundane and common, but they stand out because they are from a different time period. As the car is from the 1970s, and the rocking chair is old and wooden, as was common in the 1980s, they are both over 30 years old and seem forlorn and out of place in 2020.

Slide Show One

After I sorted through my many photos, I opted to offer the viewer a slide show that presented a journey through the forgotten lonely baseball fields. On the surface, baseball appears fun and exciting to most Americans, but as Frank would do, I dug deeper to search for the hidden loneliness. The viewer begins with the photo taken from a distance that shows the fields are empty of smiling children; instead, a sense of sadness hangs in the air. As the viewer continues through the slideshow, they are slowly drawn into the baseball park and see a forgotten softball, and several signs demanding no one use the wall and the field. The final photo is taken through a chain link fence, depicting an empty dugout and an abandoned ball on the grass that may represent the last great hit on that field. I think these photos are especially powerful in black and white, a motif Frank was known for, as it dramatically increases the sense of loneliness the viewer feels and helps go beneath the surface of the seemingly perfect place. 

Slide Show Two 

After taking several photos, I decided to look back at Robert Frank’s photos to see which ones stood out in my mind and connected to mine. As I focused on both flags and the theme on loneliness, I selected several photos that represent loneliness, and only a single image of a flag that I feel is very striking. The flag is hanging next to a table with some used dishes and a few extra bicycle wheels used in the six day bicycle race in MSG. While thousands were excited for a flashy race, after it ended everyone simply went home and left MSG alone by itself. It was likely the responsibility of the janitor to clean up the dishes, and all of the messes made around the arena by the crowd, however, Frank was there to capture the sadness. The other images I selected offer a sense of something forgotten, whether it is a car underneath a cover, a homeless man at the beach, the empty boardwalk after the Fourth of July celebrations, or even an empty gas station in the middle of the Santa Fe desert. While Frank may have just been passing by these exhibits of loneliness, his ability to recognize what would make a striking photo is unique. I hope to have captured some of his likeness in my photographs. 

Josh,

Great photos. Glad you could get them up. Looking forward to reading your discussion and analysis.

DDM

Josh,

Very thoughtful discussion of your photos. I think that you chose three excellent photos to discuss that respond to the theme of loneliness and emptiness. The two photos of the front porch–one of the rocking chair and the other of the flag–really do convey a sense of abandonment and movement, something that also characterizes Frank’s work. One senses a potential story behind them, a narrative, that is compelling.

The narrative slide show, albeit not in a slideshow format, works very nicely. I’m not sure that it speaks to the narrative of the Frank photographs that you assembled. I wonder if you might have a more effective version of the Frank photographs if you took some of his jukebox photos leading to the emptiness of perhaps the Butte, Montana window.

The discussion would work better if the paragraphs were shorter. I would break the paragraph that discusses the three images into three short paragraphs, one for each image.

DDM

Conclusion: Did you come to understand your Jewish photographer differently after taking your own photos? What did you learn about your thesis?

Josh,

Thoughtful conclusion. I don’t think that that Frank set out to capture loneliness. I think that he discovered it. As he wrote in his Guggenheim application, he wanted to portray one naturalized American’s view of America. This was his country, by choice, and he wanted to come to understand it.

The U.S. is your country by birth and citizenship, but you have also had an opportunity to come to understand it through photography. Your point about the prevalence of greed today (the subject of a more recent photobook by Lauren Greenfield) is excellent, as is your ability to use Frank’s photographs to counteract the nostalgic glow of your grandparents’ visions of the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Jewish photographers brought a critical and probing eye to what they pictured. I’m glad that you tried to do the same with our 21st century world.

DDM

Sources: List of all your sources with hyperlinks. Be sure to separate photo sources from written research sources.

Photo Sources:

• https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/6-day-bicycle-race-madison-square-garden
• https://www.lensculture.com/articles/robert-frank-the-americans

Research Sources:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kMwnmrL5FM    (interview)
• https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-shock-of-robert-franks-the-americans
• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/opinion/robert-frank-america.