Release Date: November 7, 2014

New Online Robert Frank Collection Guide Launched by National Gallery of Art

The homepage of the online Robert Frank Collection Guide
Robert Frank Collection Guide, National Gallery of Art

Washington, DC—The National Gallery of Art launched the online Robert Frank Collection Guide today, a new digital initiative that provides researchers, as well as art and photography lovers alike with unprecedented access to the largest repository of materials related to the legendary photographer and filmmaker.

Released to celebrate Robert Frank’s 90th birthday (this Sunday, November 9th), the online guide comprehensively lists, organizes, and contextualizes the nearly 8,000 objects in the Gallery’s unparalleled Robert Frank Collection. It also provides access to descriptive texts accompanied by more than 430 images of Frank’s photographs, contact sheets, and work prints, many of which have never before been reproduced.

In addition, the guide includes a biography of the artist, selected bibliography, and spreadsheets of photographs organized by key projects within Frank’s career, along with related contact sheets and work prints, all in one readily accessible archive. Users of the resource will also be able to view Frank’s early books 40 Fotos (1946), Peru (1948), and Black White and Things (1952), in their original design and sequence, along with contact sheets from Peru and Black White and Things. In addition, users will have access to contact sheets and work prints from his pivotal Guggenheim trip, 1955 – 1957—a tour across the United States that culminated in his seminal volume The Americans, first published in 1958 and 1959.

View the Robert Frank Collection Guide by visiting http://www.nga.gov/features/robert-frank.html

For more information, images, or to schedule an interview, contact Emily Bond at [email protected] or 202.842.6598.

More on the Robert Frank Collection at NGA

By the Numbers:

430+: images with descriptions of Robert Frank’s production of photographs now available online

Nearly 8,000: the number of Robert Frank objects in the entirety of the Gallery’s collection, including:

• 3 bound volumes of photographs
• 624 vintage and later prints
• 1,344 work prints
• 2,967 contact sheets
• Approximately 3,000 negatives
• 68: the number of years Robert Frank was most prolific in making photographs, from 1937 to 2005, a span well-represented in the National Gallery of Art’s collection