ROBERT FRANK (1924 ) NYC

Sale 2443 - Lot 197

Unsold

Estimate: $ 10,000 - $ 15,000

ROBERT FRANK (1924- )
NYC. Silver print, the image measuring 9x13 1/2 inches (22.9x34.4 cm.), the sheet 11x14 inches (27.9x35.6 cm.), with Frank's (faded) signature, title, and date, in ink, on recto, and the Archive and copyright hand stamps, with notations, in an unknown hand, on verso. 1954

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Additional Details

Sotheby's Park Bernet, Inc., New York May 20, 1980, lot 597; Phillips de Pury and Company, New York, October 16, 2008, lot 60; to An Important American Collector, in 2009.

This vintage print, which was shot on Frank's Guggenheim-sponsored American trip in 1954, depicts girls celebrating their First Communion. Frank captures their coming-of-age as a fleeting transition between innocence and adulthood. (The girl in the center of the picture, who appears to be wearing makeup, looks older than her friends.) Frank captures the magical element of light streaming through the veils by positioning himself at the same height as his subjects.

The National Gallery of Art, which is the repository of Frank's archive, clarified his unique style, "In a sense, [we] look over the photographer's shoulder as he pursues his subjects. Sometimes, he took several shots of a scene at barely distinguishable angles, in search of the ideal arrangement. But often he responded immediately and intuitively to rapidly changing events to produce a brilliant, spontaneous photograph of a fleeting subject."