Lot 118
  • 118

Robert Frank

Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
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Description

  • Robert Frank
  • Untitled (Chicago Loop)
  • Gelatin silver print
flush-mounted to Masonite, signed and dedicated 'For Robert Delpire from his Friend Robert Frank' in ink and with Museum of Modern Art loan and exhibition labels, with typed credit, title, medium, and exhibition and accession numbers, on the reverse, 1959

Provenance

The photographer to Robert Delpire

Exhibited

New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Photographs by Harry Callahan and Robert Frank, January - April 1962

Literature

Robert Frank, The Lines of My Hand (New York, 1989), unpaginated (variant cropping)

Peter Galassi, Robert Frank in America (Göttingen, 2014), p. 144 (variant cropping)

Condition

This early exhibition print (#140a in 'Photographs by Callahan and Frank' at MoMA, from January 31 through April 1, 1962), on semi-glossy paper and mounted on Masonite, has an attractive range of gray tones, from the sunlit structures and chrome of the Cadillac, to the darkest black shadows of the buildings. The edges are rubbed. When examined in raking light, wear commensurate with age is evident: faint scratches; rubbing; small transparent deposits (at the top edge and lower center of the print); small indentations; and very small raised areas resulting from the mounting process. These do not detract from the otherwise attractive appearance of this object. This print has undergone conservation, and a treatment report is available upon request.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

This print was included in the 1962 exhibition Photographs by Harry Callahan and Robert Frank at The Museum of Modern Art.  Although several of his photographs had been exhibited at the Museum in three previous group shows, the 1962 joint exhibition was the most significant and complete showing of Frank’s work to date, with 85 photographs on display. 

Robert Frank gave this print to Robert Delpire, the influential French publisher, writer, curator, gallerist, and filmmaker.  Known for his encouragement and promotion of, and friendships with, many of the 20th century’s photographic luminaries— among them Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï, Josef Koudelka, William Klein, Duane Michals, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, and Sarah Moon—Delpire was the first to publish an extensive body of photographs by Robert Frank.  In 1952, he reproduced many of Frank’s Peruvian photographs in his journal, Neuf, as well as in the volume From Incas to Indios, alongside those of Werner Bischof and Pierre Verger. Delpire is most notably responsible for the first publication of the book that became known as The Americans.  Les Américains was published in 1958, a year before it appeared in print in the United States.  In both editions, it is one of the most influential books of photography ever published.