Robert Frank

Robert Frank was born in 1924 in Zürich, Switzerland. He stands out in American photography, most notably during the 1950's "beat generation," where he published The Americans with a forward but author Jack Kerouac. His photographs have a strong social commentary. At first he was optimistic about American society but his opinion soon changed to an acknowledgment of the countries overemphasis on money. He was given a grant from the Guggenheim for The Americans in which he drove across the country, generally taking photographs in a "fly on the wall" approach. He was highly influenced by Walker Evans. Later in his life he made the transition to film and later back to still images in the 1970's where he created a "visual autobiography," creating collages and distorting negatives.