CV

Biography

1924
born in Zurich, Switzerland
2019
died in Nova Scotia, Canada

Education

1931
Gabler School, Zurich, Switzerland
1937
Lavater Secondary School, Zurich, Switzerland
1941
studies French at the Institute Jomini in Payerne, Switzerland

Selected Awards and Fellowships

2014
Special Award Recipient Roswitha Haftmann Foundation
2002
Edward MacDowell Colony Medal
2000
Cornell Capa Award
1999
Honorary Doctorate from Göteborgs University
1998
Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award
1996
Victor Hasselblad Foundation Award
1986
Peer Award for Distinguished Career in Photography, The Friends of Photography in San Francisco
1985
Erich Salomon Prize, Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Photographie
1970
American Film Institute Grant
1956
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
1955
John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship

Upcoming Solo Exhibitions

2024 – 2025
Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue,The Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2023 – 2024
Robert Frank and Todd Webb: Across America, 1955, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
2023
Robert Frank: Good Days Quiet, Inverness County Centre for the Arts, Nova Scotia, Canada
2019
Robert Frank: Unseen, C/O Berlin, Berlin, Germany
 
Robert Frank: Why Don’t We Talk About Photography Once Again? Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts, Kiyosato, Japan
2018
Robert Frank: Photos, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
 
Robert Frank, Hamiltons, London, England
 
Robert Frank: Books and Films. 1947-2017, Houston Center For Photography, Houston, TX, USA
 
Robert Frank, The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria
2017
Robert Frank - American Contacts, Danziger Gallery, New York, NY, USA
 
Case Study, IVAM Centre Julio González, Valencia, Spain
 
Robert Frank: Photos, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
2016
Robert Frank: Books and Films. 1947–2016, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg, Austria; HALLE 14 - Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig, Germany; Kunsthalle Ziegelhütte, Appenzell, Switzerland
 
Sideways, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, USA
2015
Robert Frank: Park/Sleep & Partida, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
 
Robert Frank. Books and Films. 1947–2014, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
2014
Robert Frank in America, Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
 
Robert Frank. Books and Films. 1947–2014, Akademie der Bildenden Künste München, Germany
2012
Robert Frank: Painkiller, Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, OR, USA
 
Photographs from the Collections of Fotomuseum Winterthur and Fotostiftung Schweiz, Multimedia Complex of Actual Arts, Moscow, Russia
 
Robert Frank: From the Pennwick Foundation Collection, Danziger Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2009 – 2010
Robert Frank, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
 
Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; traveled to San Francisco The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY , USA
 
Detroit Experiences: Robert Frank Photographs 1955, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, USA
2009
Robert Frank: Paris / The Americans, Jeu de Paume – Site Concorde, Paris, France
 
Robert Frank, Museum of Photography, Seoul, South Korea
 
Robert Frank: Lo Straniero Americano, Palazzo Reale, Milan, Italy
 
The Americans, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA
 
Robert Frank: Paris, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; traveled to Museo di Fotografia Contemporanea, Milan, Italy; Jeu de Paume, Paris, France; Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
 
Drive-By Shooting, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, CA, USA
2005
Robert Frank: Argumentos, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
 
Robert Frank: Storylines, Tate Modern, London, England; traveled to Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona, Spain; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
 
Robert Frank: In Canada, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2003
Robert Frank, London/Wales, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA
2002
Robert Frank: Living Trust, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2001
Robert Frank Hold Still - Keep Going, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; traveled to Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
1997
Robert Frank, Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden
1995
Robert Frank: The Americans, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; traveled to The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI, USA
1994
Moving Out, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; traveled to Yokoitama, Japan; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA; Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, NM, USA
1961
Robert Frank: Photographer, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2023 – 2024
Black & White: An Aesthetic of Photography, Bibliothèque nationale de France
2023
Robert Frank and Todd Webb: Across America, 1955, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Beck Building, Houston, Texas, USA
 
Cities Are for People: Street Photography, 1945-1970, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
 
Collection, University Museum of Contemporary Art, UMass Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
2022
Exhibition “COLLECTION: 150 Photographs from the Bachelot Collection”, Villa Medici, Roma, Italy
 
Studio to Stage. Music Photography from the Fifties to the Present, Pace New York (540 West 25th Street), Chelsea, New York, USA
 
Stuff. Organized by Arlene Shechet, Pace New York (540 West 25th Street), Chelsea, New York, USA
 
Conscious Response: Photographers Changing the Way We See, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan, USA
 
TOP Collection: The Illumination of Life by Death, Tokyo Photographic Art Museum, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan
 
Sculpting Reality. El estilo documental, Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, Spain
 
Martín Chambi and His Contemporaries: The Andes Photographed, Fundació Foto Colectania, Barcelona, Spain
2021
Cruel Radiance: Photography, 1940s–1960s, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Upper East Side, New York, USA
 
Photography in the middle. Photography in the IVAM Collection after 1950, IVAM Alcoi, Alcoy, Spain
 
American Photography, Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria
 
Breaking the Frame: New Directions in Photo History, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
 
Sculpting Reality. The Documentary Style in The Per Amor A L’art Collection, Bombas Gens Centre d’Art, Valencia, Spain
 
Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine, The Jewish Museum New York, Upper East Side, New York, USA
2020
Noir & Blanc: Une Esthétique de la Photographie ,Musée National de la Renaissance, Écouen, France
 
Americans Looking In, Center for Book Arts, Midtown, New York, USA
 
Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes: Notes on America, Pace New York (540 West 25th Street), Chelsea, New York, USA
 
PROOF: Photography in the Era of the Contact Sheet, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2019
Fall Selections: Classic Photographs, Charles A. Hartman Fine Art, Portland, Oregon, USA
 
The Levee: A Photographer in the American South, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
 
Street. Life. Photography. Seven Decades of Street Photography, Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna, Austria
 
Viewpoints: Photographs from the Howard Greenberg Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston ,Back Bay, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
 
Fil Noir: Exposition De La Collection De La Mep, MEP, Maison Européenne de la Photographie ,4e, Paris, France
 
Key Moments in Midcentury Art: Suspense, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine, USA
2018
The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip, Telfair Museums, Jepson Center, Savannah, Georgia, USA
 
Moment in Time: A Collection of Photographs, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, California, USA
 
The pulse of the body. Uses and representations of the space. Per Amor a l’Art Collection, Bombas Gens Centre d’Art ,Valencia, Spain
2017
Speech, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2016
American Classics, Pace Gallery, New York, NY, USA
 
Make Light of It, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
 
Be-hold Open House, Be-hold, Yonkers, NY, USA
2014
Multi Panel, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
 
Foto Europa: 1840 to Present, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, USA
 
XL:19 New Acquisitions in Photography, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
2013
Displaced Visions: Emigré Photographers of the 20th Century, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
 
Motor City Muse: Detroit Photographs, Then and Now, Detroit Museum of Arts, Detroit, MI, USA
 
Family Portrait, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
2012
The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the W.M. Hunt Collection, George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, USA
 
A Tribute to Robert Delpire: Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Josef Koudelka, Duane Michals, and Paolo Roversi, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
 
On Horizons, Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
2011
Conversations: Photography from the Bank of America Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
 
Public Works, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL, USA
 
Wanna See my Portfolio?, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2008
Playback, ARC/Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
2007
Icons of American Photography, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, USA
 
Far from Home: Photography, Travel, and Inspiration, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
 
The Streets of New York, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA
2006
Reprocessing Reality, MoMA PS1, New York, NY, USA
 
American Beauty, National Gallery of Victoria International, Melbourne, Australia
2005
American Pictures, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
 
The Open Book: A History of the Photographic Book from 1878 to the Present, International Center for Photography, New York, NY, USA
 
People in Series in Sequence, Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2004
Photography and Art Variations in Spain 1900-1980, MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporánea de Vigo, Vigo, Spain
 
Few Are Chosen: Street Photography and the Book, 1936-1966, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
2003
Cruel and Tender, Tate Modern, London, England
1962
Photographs by Harry Callahan and Robert Frank, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
1961
51 American Photographers, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA

Selected Publications

Robert Frank: Books and Films, Steidl/Süddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, 2017.
2017
Robert Frank: Leon of Juda, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2017.
2016
Robert Frank: Hold Still, Keep Going, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2016.
 
Robert Frank: Film Works, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2016.
 
Robert Frank: What We Have Seen, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2016.
2013
Frank, Robert. Partida. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2013.
 
Galassi, Peter. Robert Frank: In America, Göttingen, Germany: Steidl and Cantor Arts Center, 2013.
 
Frank, Robert. Household Inventory Record. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2013.
2012
Frank, Robert. Robert Frank: Valencia 1952. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2012.
 
Frank, Robert. You Would. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2012.
2011
Frank, Robert. Robert Frank, Pangnirtung. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2011.
2008
Frank, Robert. Paris. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2008.
 
Frank, Robert. Come Again. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2008.
2004
Todoli, Vicente. Robert Frank, Storylines. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl 2004.
2002
Brookman, Philip. London/Wales. Göttingen, Germany: Steidl, 2002.
2001
Frank, Robert. Hold Still...Keep Going. Zurich, Switzerland: Scalo Publishers, 2001.
1997
Frank, Robert. Flamingo. Zurich, Switzerland: Scalo Publishers, 1997.
1996
Frank, Robert. Thank You. Zurich, Switzerland: Scalo Publishers, 1996.
1994
Frank, Robert. Black White and Things. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art & Scalo, 1994.
1989
Frank, Robert. The Lines of My Hand. New York, NY: Pantheon, 1989.
1986
Frank, Robert. New York to Nova Scotia. Houston, TX: Little, Brown and Company & The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 1986.
1959
Frank, Robert. The Americans. New York, NY: Grove Press, 1959.
1958
Frank, Robert. Les Americains. Lausanne, Switzerland: Robert Delpire, 1958.

Selected Collections

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada
 
Tate Modern, London, England
 
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England
 
Maison Europeene de la Photographie, Paris, France
 
Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany
 
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
 
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte – Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
 
Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), Barcelona, Spain
 
Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland
 
Stiftung für die Photographie, Zürich, Switzerland
 
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
 
Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
 
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI, USA
 
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
 
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, USA
 
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
 
Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT, USA
 
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, USA
 
George Eastman House, Rochester, NY, USA
 
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA
 
Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA
 
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA