Robert Frank
Swiss, b. 1924

I’m always looking outside,
trying to look inside.
Try to say something that’s true.
But maybe nothing is really true.
Except what’s out there.
And what’s out there is always changing.

-- R. Frank

Robert Frank is best known for The Americans (1958), a seminal photo-book that scrutinized the culture of post-war America with skepticism and honesty. His photographs challenged and shocked a time that promoted romantic notions of wholesomeness and prosperity. By revealing alienated, nervous, and dislocated images of jukebox diners, office workers, empty storefronts and funeral attendees in his jagged and grainy style, he captured an America devoid of hope.

Before The Americans, Robert Frank also wandered through London, Spain, Peru, Wales, and Paris. Porte Clignancourt, Paris is a product of this time, and encapsulates his consistent desire to depict the mundane and true.

Title: Porte Clignancourt, Paris
Size: 21 x 32 cm
Process: B & W Gelatin Silver Print
Date: 1952