Robert Frank
‚Books and films, 1947-2014′

Essen

The Museum Folkwang displays a retrospective of the overall pilgrimage and works of the Swiss American artist Robert Frank. Known for his photographs, this exhibition evokes another side from his career: his books and films from 1947 to 2014.

‘The American’ is without a doubt the central figure of Frank’s oeuvre. The book is a concentrate of pictures took in 1955 during his travel across the United States. It takes place in the Beat Generation context and gained its reputation through Jack Kerouac’s preview notes that introduces the book. Beat leader, Kerouac was head of a new undertaking going against the American way of life and thinking. ‘Pull my Daisy’ (1959) is another work inspired by the Beat Generation for which he chose the medium of film. His ongoing discovery of this medium results in ‚Cocksucker Blues‘ (1972). It delivers a very crude reality of the rock band Rolling Stones, too crude for the puritan America.

This exclusive exhibition decided to project the selected images in an unusual way. Photographs, screen shots from the movies and from the books are injected on meters long prints that are then directly glued on the wall. A display that totally fits with the spirit of Frank’s career who describes it as ‘Cheap, quick and dirty’.

Museum Folkwang

April 17 – August 16, 2015

Museumsplatz 1
45128 Essen
Germany

Calendar