Frank

Robert (1924). American photographer, born in Switzerland. After short apprenticeships in the early 1940s in Zurich and Basel, he moved to the U.S and worked as a fashion photographer for Life, Look, Fortune, and Harper’s Bazaar, where he collaborated with the art director Alexey Brodovitch and the photographer Louis Faurer. Irresistibly attracted by photo reportage and the work of Eugene Smith, and by the writers of the Beat Generation, he traveled throughout the U.S thanks to a scholarship from the Guggenheim Foundation. The result was a photo book which which has had a lasting impact. It was first published in France by Robert Delpire as Les Américains and then a year later in the U.S. as The Americans, with a preface by Jack Kerouac. As an artist Frank was close to the avant-garde, fascinated by the theater and underground poetry, although he never completely abandoned professional photography, continuing to produce fashion photos, catalogues, and very personal photo features.