8kjj[ :[jhe_j D[mOeha9_jo 9b[l[bWdZ 9^_YW]e IWd<hWdY_iYe ?dZ_WdWfeb_i IWdjW<[ Bei7d][b[i IWlWddW^ D[mEhb[Wdi >ekijed Ij$F[j[hiXkh] C_Wc_ 1924 1946 November 9: Robert Louis Frank is Makes spiral-bound book 40 Fotos, born in Zurich, Switzerland, the incorporating original photographs second son of Regina and Hermann in various genres. Frank. Travels to Milan, Paris, and Strasbourg. 1931 – 1937 May – August: Works for Graphic Attends Gabler School, Zurich. Atelier H., R. and W. Eidenbenz, Map and Basel. 1937 – 1940 Chronology Attends Lavater Secondary School, 1947 Zurich. February 19 or 20: Departs Antwerp Sarah Gordon and Paul Roth on S.S. James Bennett Moore bound for Rotterdam and New York City. 1940 March 14: Arrives in New York, finds 8kjj[ Studies French at the Institut an apartment opposite Rockefeller Jomini, Payerne. Center, and lives briefly with the Note on Chronology designer and photographer Herbert Matter and his wife, Mercedes, in This chronology focuses on Frank’s 1941 Greenwich Village. Later moves to 53 :[jhe_j early years, with an emphasis on January: Begins informal apprentice- East Eleventh Street in Manhattan. D[mOeha9_jo 9b[l[bWdZ activities and associations related ship with photographer and graphic 9^_YW]e Late March / early April: Visits Henri to The Americans. It is indebted designer Hermann Segesser in Cartier-Bresson exhibition at the to Stuart Alexander, Robert Frank: Zurich (until March 1942). IWd<hWdY_iYe Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). ?dZ_WdWfeb_i A Bibliography, Filmography, and September – December: Serves as still Exhibition Chronology 1946 – 1985 April: Hired by Alexey Brodovitch photographer for film Landammann (Tucson: Center for Creative Photog- as an assistant photographer at Stauffacher. raphy, University of Arizona, in Harper’s Bazaar, where he photo- association with the Museum of December: Hermann Frank applies graphs fashion accessories. Fine Arts, Houston, 1986). for Swiss citizenship for Robert and IWdjW<[ Begins publishing commercial work older son Manfred. Bei7d][b[i in Harper’s Bazaar (until 1963) and Map Key Junior Bazaar (until 1948); begins 1942 publishing independent work reg- This map charts the three routes ularly in Camera, Life, U.S. Camera, IWlWddW^ May – July: Frank becomes assistant driven by Robert Frank during the and U.S. Camera Annual as well as to the still photographer for film period of his Guggenheim fellow- occasionally in Photo Arts, Portfolio: Steibruch. ship. Photographs published in A Magazine for the Graphic Arts, The Americans were taken along D[mEhb[Wdi August: Serves as apprentice to, and and Das Wochenende. these highways and byways, as >ekijed later employee of, advertising Late summer / fall: Meets Louis Faurer, detailed in the following chronology. photographer Michael Wolgensinger Ij$F[j[hiXkh] another photographer working at in Zurich (until September 1944). red: late June – mid-July 1955 Harper’s Bazaar. Encouraged by gold: summer 1955 C_Wc_ Brodovitch, Frank purchases a Leica blue: October 1955 – early June 1956 1944 35mm rangefinder camera, after having primarily used a Rolleiflex A dotted line indicates an December: Serves as assistant unconfirmed route. twin-lens reflex camera, which to Victor Bouverat, a commercial produced 2 W-by-2 W-inch medium- photographer in Geneva (until format negatives. June 1945). October: Resigns as assistant at Harper’s Bazaar but continues 1945 to contribute as freelance 365 April: Granted Swiss citizenship. photographer. Summer: Undertakes basic military training in Losone, Switzerland. 1948 1950 September: Delpire publishes seven March 8 – 16: Travels to Caerau, Wales, Spring: Sees Edward Steichen’s first February 7: Arrives in New York on of Frank’s photographs in a special to photograph at the Gee coal mine. large group exhibition as director the S.S. Edam. issue of Neuf devoted to the circus, Influenced by Richard Llewellyn’s of the Department of Photography “Magie du cirque.” How Green Was My Valley, Frank Meets Walker Evans through Jason centers his essay on the miner Ben at MoMA, In and Out of Focus: October: Meets Steichen in Zurich Harvey, a painter and lamp designer. James, living with him and follow- A Survey of Today’s Photography, and arranges for him to meet Swiss ing him throughout his days. which includes work by Faurer and Meets Steichen at MoMA. photographers for possible inclusion is designed by Matter. in upcoming MoMA exhibitions March 16: Sails with his family to June: Marries Mary Lockspeiser. June – December: Travels to Central Post-War European Photography and New York on the S.S. United States. and South America, stopping briefly The Family of Man; together they Rents apartment at 130 West in Cuba, Panama, Brazil, and Bolivia, 1951 visit Jakob Tuggener. After Steichen’s Twenty-third Street in Manhattan. departure, Frank makes three copies and roaming extensively in Peru, Frank’s portrait of Norman Mailer Summer: Makes the first of many of Black White and Things, a spiral- making 35mm black-and-white appears on back cover dust jacket trips with his family to Province- bound book, designed by his friend negatives and 2 W-by-2 W-inch of Mailer’s Barbary Shore. town, MA, which continue through Werner Zryd, with thirty-four color transparencies. the 1960s. Steichen purchases at least two photographs made in America, Peru, December 21: Writes to Steichen Frank photographs for MoMA. England, France, Spain, and Italy. December: Three of Frank’s photo- requesting to see him and asking his He subsequently gives one copy to graphs win prizes in the black-and- February 7: Son, Pablo, is born. opinion of the Peru photographs: his parents and one to Steichen. white category of Popular Photog- “From all my work done so far — I do August: Frank documents people raphy’s 1953 International Pictures November 17: Frank and family travel like these pictures the best. It is who work on his block of Eleventh Contest. Judges include Irving Penn, to London, where they live in the not difficult to photograph in such Street near University Place for a Arthur Rothstein, W. Eugene Smith, Hampstead. Meets photographer a wonderful country.” photographic essay titled “People and Steichen. Bill Brandt. Photographs bankers in You Don’t See,” which he enters in Frank’s photograph The Wall the financial district of London. published in U.S. Camera Annual Life’s Contest for Young Photogra- 1954 1949, edited by Tom Maloney. phers. Winners are announced in December: Delpire publishes twenty- Life, November 26. The essay, which eight of Frank’s photographs from Frank is represented by an agency includes fifteen captioned photo- Peru and Bolivia in a photographic called Gamma, run by Ben Schultz, 1949 graphs, fails to win, but Frank essay, “Indiens des Hauts-Plateaux,” Byron Dobell, and Edna Bennett. in Neuf, with text by Georges Makes two spiral-bound books with wins second prize of $1,250 in the Arnaud. April 21: Daughter, Andrea, is born. thirty-nine photographs from his individual pictures category. trip to Peru; gives one to his mother Steichen was a judge. July: Frank and family travel to Jay, NY, for July 4; makes the first and the other to Brodovitch. November: Leaves New York for 1953 photograph that will be included in Paris, where he meets Mary and Meets artist Mary Lockspeiser. Frank mostly gives up fashion The Americans (Americans 17). Pablo on November 8. photography but continues as a March 30: Departs for Europe on the September 16: Photographs Orthodox December 9: Arrives in London, freelance magazine photojournalist S.S. Rouen. Meets photographer Jews performing the ceremony where he photographs until with occasional advertising assign- Elliott Erwitt on board. of tashlikh, throwing bread crumbs December 14. ments, working for Charm (until April: Arrives in Switzerland; visits 1955 and 1958 – 1965), Look, and into the East River on Rosh his parents and photographs the McCall’s as well as Advertising Age, Hashanah; one photograph from Landsgemeinde in Hundwil. 1952 Esquire, Fortune, House and Garden, this series will become Yom Kippur — East River, New York City Frank and his family move to Life, Mademoiselle (1960 – 1964), July 31: Arrives in France, where he Pageant, Seventeen, Show, Vogue, (Americans 16). is based in Paris for the remainder 19 rue Victor Massé in Paris. Western Advertising, and Western September: Photographs the of his stay; Lockspeiser briefly joins Steichen publishes Frank’s photo- Advertising Week. rodeo at Madison Square Garden him there. While there, he meets graph of a white line on Thirty- (Americans 65). photographers Louis Stettner and fourth Street as the cover of a During this year and next Frank Édouard Boubat. MoMA bulletin devoted to the and Mary become friends with Jan October 21: With significant con- Department of Photography. Müller, John Grillo, Lester John- August 18 – 24: Travels to Spain. ceptual and editorial assistance son, Miles and Barbara Forst, Robert from Evans, Frank applies for a March 30: Frank and his family go to September 30 – October 16: Travels to Beauchamp, Felix Pasilis, Allen fellowship from the John Simon Spain, where they will live until Italy and the south of France with Ginsberg, and Gregory Corso. Guggenheim Memorial Founda- August, based at 33 Eugenia Vines, 366 Erwitt. tion. Brodovitch, Evans, Alexander Grao de Valencia. Frank photographs January: Arnold Kübler includes two Liberman, Meyer Schapiro, and December: Makes unique book of in Barcelona, Andraitx (on the island Frank photographs from Black White Steichen serve as references. In the seventy-four photographs of Paris of Majorca), and Málaga. Works on and Things in the periodical Du. application he notes that Delpire for Mary. Uses an intricate layout an essay in Valencia about bull- February / early March: Frank photo- has agreed to publish his results with inscriptions in both French fighters, which goes unpublished. graphs top-hatted bankers walking in France.