Halifax Infirmary

1978

Robert Frank

Associated Names
Robert Frank

Artist, American, born Switzerland, 1924 - 2019

Sid Kaplan

Printer, American

This is a photograph of a hospital room. The collage contains multiple smaller black-and-white photographs showing different sections of a hospital room with annotations written over each section. There are images of a hospital bed, a view from a window, and a person sitting by the bed, each accompanied by handwritten words like "HOSPITAL," "PAIN," "NUCLEAR," "HOPE," and dates such as "SEPT 21/78." The overall presentation conveys a personal narrative or experience in a medical setting. The annotations suggest themes like illness, time, and memory. Additional writings include phrases like "THE WIND WILL BLOW THE FIRE OF PAIN ACROSS EVERYONE IN TIME," adding a poetic or reflective element. The bottom part of the image contains written text, potentially addresses or names, and words like "HALIFAX" and "INFIRMARY" for further context.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print with green oil paint and black ink

  • Credit Line

    Robert Frank Collection, Anonymous Gift

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 50.5 x 40.6 cm (19 7/8 x 16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1994.31.1

  • Copyright

    © Robert Frank Foundation


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(PaceWildensteinMacGill, New York); purchased with donated funds by NGA, 1994.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1994

  • Robert Frank: Moving Out, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Yokohama Museum of Art; Kunsthaus Zürich, Zurich; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Lannan Foundation, Los Angeles, 1994-1996, no. 139.

  • Greenough/Brookman 1994, p. 253.

2015

  • Camera Atomica, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, 2015, unnumbered catalogue.

2016

  • Intersections: Photographs and Videos from the National Gallery of Art and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2016 - 2017, unnumbered catalogue.

Bibliography

1989

  • Frank, Robert. The Lines of My Hand. New York: Pantheon Books, 1989: pl. 117.

1994

  • Greenough/Brookman 1994, p. 253.

Inscriptions

lower left in black ink: 1978; lower right in black ink: 1978 Robert Frank; by later hand, upper right verso in graphite: 271-VI / RF.245 / LOMH 117

Wikidata ID

Q64164051

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