Robert Frank

oversized, signed, titled, and dated in ink on the image, flush-mounted to Masonite, the edges of the mount with black ink, framed, a Pace/MacGill Gallery label on the reverse, 1955, probably printed in 1967-68

Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Photographs By Robert Frank, May - September 1969

Robert Frank, The Americans (New York, 1958), no. 13

'Robert Frank,' Aperture, 1961, p. 7

Willy Rotzler, 'Der Photograph Robert Frank,' Du, no. 251, January 1962, p. 17

Sarah Greenough and Philip Brookman, Robert Frank: Moving Out (Washington, D. C.: National Gallery of Art, 1994), pp. 173 and 197

Robert Frank: Story Lines (London: Tate Modern, 2004), frontispiece 6

Charlie LeDuff, 'Robert Frank's Unsentimental Journey,' Vanity Fair, April 2008, p. 167

Sarah Greenough, Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans (Washington, D. C.: National Gallery of Art, 2009), pp. xiii, 225, 463, and 465, and Contact no. 13

Peter Galassi, Robert Frank: In America (Stanford, 2014), p. 132

This oversized, early exhibition print, with a creamy tonality and a slight surface sheen, is in generally excellent condition. The title written by the photographer in the right corner on the image reads 'Charlestown [sic], S. C.' There is a one-inch vertical hairline scratch in the area of the woman's cheek, which appears to break the emulsion and has been expertly retouched. There are several other very minor scratches in the area of her hair that have also been retouched and are only visible upon extremely close inspection. The print is trimmed to the image and flush-mounted to Masonite. The edges of the Masonite mount are painted black, which is scuffed or chipped in a few small areas. The reverse of the Masonite is faintly soiled, scuffed, and appropriately age-darkened overall. There are multiple numerical notations in an unidentified hand in black and white crayon or chalk on the reverse. There are two labels on the reverse: a small white circular label at the upper left corner with '69' written in an unidentified hand in ink; and a rectangular white label at the upper right corner with 'RF.A.013.15' in an unidentified hand in ink. The original rectangular wooden cleat is attached to the reverse of the Masonite.
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.
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The dramatically oversized photograph offered here – printed nearly full frame, flush-mounted to Masonite, and with inked edges – is representative of Robert Frank’s exhibition presentation in the 1960s.  It was featured in the photographer’s 1969 solo exhibition The Photographs of Robert Frank, which originated at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and traveled to four other institutions through 1971.  At the time of this writing, it is believed that the photograph offered here is the largest print by Frank to appear at auction. 

The Americans, Robert Frank’s seminal photobook published in 1958, is at times a poignant visual record of race relations in 1950s America and Charleston, SC, remains one of its most culturally resonant photographs.  In Frank’s images of the South, we witness the European photographer’s first exposure to deeply-rooted racism and class stratification.  Frank authority Sarah Greenough notes that the photographer’s first images included obvious visual cues of segregation, such as ‘white’ or ‘colored’ water fountains and separate waiting areas but Frank quickly abandoned such prosaic conventions, however, in favor of more nuanced imagery (Looking In, p. 122).