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Home>Robert Frank Collection Guide>40 Fotos 1946

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# Robert Frank Collection

*40 Fotos*, 1946, 2010.114.1.5 – 2010.114.1.6

***40 Fotos*, 1946**

In 1946 Frank traveled and photographed in Milan, Paris, and Strasbourg. He also made his first book, a unique spiral-bound volume titled *40 Fotos*. Incorporating original photographs in various genres, the book displays Frank’s early recognition of the power of presenting multiple photographs in a single page spread or in a bound series.

The cover, a montage of a human eye seen through an open camera lens, establishes the tone of clever interplay between formal and thematic opposites, while emphasizing similar shapes and properties. Frank goes on to juxtapose seemingly disparate pictures (e.g., close views of tree trunks with distant landscapes, radio tubes with live musicians, snow covered pine trees with lacy fabrics) and to pair closely aligned ones (a man holding a pig and a woman reaching for a hay bale, two wild animals struggling against their cages, a man climbing a rope and a skiier aloft in the air) in a sophisticated exploration of repetition, contrast, gesture, and sensation.

*40 Fotos* page spreads

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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