Los Angeles--February 4th--I Wake Up--Turn On TV

1979

Robert Frank

Associated Names
Robert Frank

Artist, American, born Switzerland, 1924 - 2019

Sid Kaplan

Printer, American

This is a photograph featuring handwritten words and an urban scene seen through a window. The upper part shows the words "LOS ANGELES FEBRUARY 4 WAKE UP TURN ON TV" on the surface. Below, a reflection or view through a window shows a reversed hotel sign saying "NEW WILTON HOTEL" and a blurry part that seems to be a television screen with some inverted and partly obscured text. The composition combines text and cityscape elements, giving it a transient and slightly chaotic feel. The photograph utilizes high contrast and grainy textures, adding to its raw, spontaneous aesthetic.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    gelatin silver print

  • Credit Line

    Robert Frank Collection, Robert B. Menschel Fund

  • Dimensions

    image: 50.5 x 36.4 cm (19 7/8 x 14 5/16 in.)
    sheet: 50.6 x 40.8 cm (19 15/16 x 16 1/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1994.55.5

  • Copyright

    © Robert Frank Foundation

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

PaceWildensteinMacGill, New York, NY; 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. 140.

Bibliography

1989

  • Frank, Robert. The Lines of My Hand. New York, 1989: pl. 107.

1994

  • Greenough/Brookman 1994, p. 254.

Inscriptions

center right in black ink: Robert Frank. 1979; all by later hands: upper left verso in graphite: 252-VI; upper right verso in graphite: 252-VI / 21 (circled, crossed-out) / LOMH 107 / RF.255 / 32; lower left verso in graphite: 25 / 25

Wikidata ID

Q64161235

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