Die Kinder (Children) 1-12

1942-1946

Robert Frank

Artist, American, born Switzerland, 1924 - 2019

Square black and white photographs are arranged in a grid of four rows and three columns on cream-white paper and numbered 1 through 12. Most photographs show one, a pair, or small groups of children, all of whom appear to have pale skin. Number 1 is of a small boy wearing a collared shirt, black shorts, and shiny black shoes playing a toy drum hung around his neck. In number 2, two more boys march in a line down a town street following the drummer. At the top right of the page, number 3 shows a girl in dappled sunlight holding the hem of her dress out as two adults smile in the blurry background. In the next row, number 4 is of three older boys smiling and standing on a snowy hill. The middle boy has his arms around the shoulders of the other two, and the boy to our right holds that hand. Number 5 is of two older boys wearing shorts and collared shirts on bicycles on a dirt path. Next, a boy wearing a sweater smiles at the camera, both front teeth missing. About a dozen kids run toward us from a distance on a dirt path in number 7, and a boy with a boxy knapsack lies on the dirt ground to inspect something down an incline in number 8. Then seven young girls stand closely in a pack and smile widely as they point up and to our left in number 9. Number 10 shows more than fifty kids sitting on bleachers, and the final two, numbers 11 and 12, show a baby being fed a bottle in a stroller.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    2 1/4 inch gelatin silver prints mounted on board

  • Credit Line

    Robert Frank Collection, Gift of Robert Frank

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 29.6 x 21 cm (11 5/8 x 8 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1990.28.53

  • Copyright

    © June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist, New York; gift to NGA, 1990.

Associated Names

Inscriptions

upper right in black ink: K; upper right beside each contact print in black ink the numbers 1-12

Wikidata ID

Q64164291


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