Trolley—New Orleans
1955
Artist, American, born Switzerland, 1924 - 2019

Are there no happy riders on this New Orleans trolley? Each person stares from their own window as if jailed in their seat. With severe-looking white passengers in front and weary Black riders relegated to the back, the streetcar epitomizes segregated life in the American South in the 1950s. Photographer Robert Frank, a Swiss émigré to the United States, journeyed across the country in 1955 and 1956 to document American life. Through innovative photographs like this one, he revealed a society that, similar to the diverse gazes of the people on this trolley, was divided.
Artwork overview
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Medium
gelatin silver print
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Credit Line
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Dimensions
sheet: 21 x 31.6 cm (8 1/4 x 12 7/16 in.)
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Accession
2001.8.1
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Copyright
© June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Lee Friedlander, New City, New York, 1977; gift to NGA, 2001.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1977
Robert Frank, Yajima Galerie, Montreal, Quebec, 5 - 29 October 1977.
2015
In Light of the Past: Celebrating Twenty-Five Years of Collecting Photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, May 3 – July 26, 2015
Inscriptions
lower left in black ink: Robert Frank 1956; by later hand, upper left verso in graphite: RF-770-121
Wikidata ID
Q64166089