Photographs, Contact Sheets, Work Prints, and Volumes

The collection includes:

624 photographs, both vintage prints (made within five years of the negative) and later prints, dating from 1937 to 2005. One object classified as a photograph, 2010.108.20, is a hardcover book (the 1994 exhibition catalogue, Moving Out), with a Polaroid inset.

Collection search: Photographs 1937–2005

2,967 contact sheets that Frank printed from his negatives, starting with his Swiss work in 1941 and extending through his 1973 work in Paris and London.

Collection search: Contact Sheets 1941–1973

1,344 work prints made during Frank's early years in Europe and from the Guggenheim negatives, 1955–1957.

Three groups of prints have been classified as work prints. The quality of the print does not determine its designation as a work print, although it is clear that Frank did not strive toward perfect tone or contrast in the work prints. Rather, the classification results from Frank's conception and use of the prints.

The first group of work prints comprises what appear to be contact prints (that is, the same size as Frank's negatives) made during his early years in Switzerland.

Collection search: Work prints 1937–1950

The second group of work prints includes prints Frank made in France in 1951, as well as a few other prints from Spain, London, and Wales.

Collection search: Work prints 1951–1953

The final group of work prints Frank made from his Guggenheim negatives, 1955–1957, as he worked toward the grouping and sequencing of The Americans.

Collection search: Work prints 1954–1958

Three hand-bound volumes produced during the early part of Frank's career: 40 Fotos, 1946; Peru, 1948; and Black White and Things, 1952.

Collection search: 40 Fotos, 1946

Collection search: Peru, 1948

Collection search: Black White and Things, 1952