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Home>Robert Frank Collection Guide>Peru 1948

# 

# The Robert Frank Collection

*Peru*, 1948, 1996.147.7.6 – 1996.147.7.7

***Peru*, 1948**

Frank made several trips during his first few years living in the United States. In 1948 he traveled to Central and South America, briefly visiting Cuba, Panama, Brazil, and Bolivia before roaming and photographing extensively in Peru. This sojourn resulted in the creation of two spiral-bound books, each containing the same 39 photographs but sequenced differently.

As in *40 Fotos*, Frank experimented with the layout of his *Peru* books, bleeding some photographs to the top, bottom, or side of the page and even printing some pictures across the center and onto the opposite page. The variety of formats recalls Alexey Brodovitch's *Day of Paris*. The pictures themselves focus on traditional Peruvian life, with special attention to the ubiquitous hats that Frank saw as a defining feature of the Peruvian people. Many of the page spreads present two perspectives on a single theme—a man cutting crops, a child seated before a bowl or plates—communicating Frank's personal response to the country and its citizens. The order of the pictures offers no narrative but rather a series of intuitive impressions of the Peruvian people and landscape. This and the variation in sequencing between the two books emphasizes the personal nature of *Peru*.

Frank gave one of his *Peru* books to Alexey Brodovitch, which is now in a private collection, and the other to his mother. The latter now resides in the Robert Frank Collection.

*Peru*, 1948, page spreads

*Peru*, 1948, selected contact sheets

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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