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Home>Robert Frank Collection Guide>Photographs, Work Prints and Contact Sheets

# 

# The Robert Frank Collection

*Trolley–New Orleans*, 1955, 2001.8.1

**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

*Guggenheim 340/Americans 18/19–New Orleans*, 1955, 1990.28.2141

**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

*Trolley–New Orleans*, 1955, 1990.28.316

**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

*40 Fotos*, 1946, 2010.114.1.9 - 2010.114.1.10

**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

Introduction to the CollectionPhotographs, Contact Sheets, Work Prints, and Volumes    Switzerland 1941–1946    *40 Fotos*, 1946    New York 1947–1954    *Peru*, 1948    Europe 1949–1953    *Black White and Things*, 1952    The Guggenheim Trip, 1955–1957    *The Americans*, 1955–1957    *From the Bus*, 1958    Photographs and Film 1959–1980    New York and Nova Scotia, 1971–2005NegativesPhotographs by Other PhotographersTechnical MaterialPapers, Books and RecordingsFilm and Video

Provenance

Publications about Robert FrankBooks of photographs by Robert Frank

Access and Rights

Acknowledgments

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