Robert Frank turns 90

[telenous]

Nice article by Sean O' Hagan on Robert Frank as he turned 90 yesterday (it's past midnight 10/11 here) in the Grauniad.

http://www.theguardian.com/artandde...ricans-photography-influence-shadows#comments

There are a few excerpts from an earlier rare interview as well as lesser known photos/outtakes from around the time of The Americans. In a couple of quotes, photographers Jeff Wall and Ed Ruscha admit they were stunned by The Americans, so much so they felt documentary photography was exhausted as an approach to be pursued any further. And there's a particular comment by Frank from the 2004 interview that sounds very ominous:

“The kind of photography I did is gone. It’s old,” he told me without a trace of regret in 2004, when I visited him at his spartan apartment in Bleecker Street, New York, where a single bread roll and a mobile phone the size of a brick sat forlornly on the kitchen table. “There’s no point in it any more for me, and I get no satisfaction from trying to do it. There are too many pictures now. It’s overwhelming. A flood of images that passes by, and says, ‘why should we remember anything?’ There is too much to remember now, too much to take in.”

I understand what he says (it's a common enough debate in forums anyway) but that very last phrase floors me. Having read about his personal tragedies -- the tragic loss of both his children -- it's like he says he has lived too much, seen and experienced too much and there is no more room left, no willingness to take anything else in.

I'm not sure what I am driving at with this...I admire him for a lot of things and I feel sorry too...I'll raise a glass for him tonight. Let's all do.


.

 

[zauhar]

Thanks for the link, nice article.

There are indeed too many images today, but they are only overwhelming if you bother to look at them all.

Randy

 

[helen.HH]

Lovely Alkis of You to post, Thanks for the heads up

There is a definite ring to what he says...the World is Exploding with Imagery
Thankfully its not as Brutal as the Written Word can be perceived

I do Hope Mr.Frank can find a sweet spot in Life again

 

[DNG]

I do agree that there is flood of photography now, and many genre's have exploded, maybe due to the fact the internet has made it very easy to show off your work. Back in his day, you had to work hard to make a name for yourself, which took a lot of self-promotion in the journalism and or the art world. You needed to know at least one person who was well connected with those worlds to get your name out as a person of interest.

But, there is a much smaller group with plenty of talent also, and, many will never achieve this kind of fame. Even though their photography is just as good or even better! That is the curse of the internet also. There is so much out there, even those looking for great talent that can get a photographer world wide recognition, can get overwhelmed looking at junk or so-so photography, trying to find a new great photography, IMO.

 

[ramosa]

Happy B-day, RF. You're one of my two favorites of all time. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[kbg32]

My favorite quote of his -

"I’m always looking outside, trying to look inside.
Trying to tell something that’s true.
But maybe nothing is really true.
Except what’s out there."


-Robert Frank

 

[robert blu]

Thanks for this post and Happy Birthday Robert!

 

[leicapixie]

An amazing man, brilliant concepts and stunning legacy.
Happy Birthday Robert.
We may not all like his work, but it should be studied.
Of course I am a fan..

 

[lawrence]

Today there's a lot of talk about 'Fine Art Photography' but what that means I have yet to figure out. However I do know is that a few photographers are also artists and Robert Frank is one of them, glad to see he's still about.