Robert Frank Hope Makes Visions On View Nov 15 – Dec 21, 2024 New York EXHIBITION DETAILSRobert Frank Hope Makes VisionsNov 15 – Dec 21, 2024GALLERY540 West 25th StreetNew YorkPRESSPress ReleaseCONNECT (opens in a new window) @leaffrankfoundation (opens in a new window) @pacegalleryAbove: Installation view, Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visions, Nov 15 – Dec 21, 2024, Pace Gallery, New York © The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation Pace is pleased to present an exhibition of work by the celebrated photographer and filmmaker Robert Frank at its 540 West 25th Street gallery in New York, on view from November 15 to December 21. This presentation, titled Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visions, marks the centenary of Frank’s birth and coincides with several other major exhibitions of his work around the world. Pace’s upcoming Frank exhibition—organized in collaboration with The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation—will be accompanied by a new book from Pace Publishing, featuring an essay by Ocean Vuong.Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visions will focus on Frank’s later work from the 1970s onward: the decades he spent experimenting with various cameras, printing methods, and media. Curated by Shahrzad Kamel, Director of The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation, the exhibition takes its title from a sketch Frank made of his work Fire Below—to the East America, Mabou (1979), which was included in a bequest the artist made of his photographs and papers to The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation upon his death in 2019, and one of many discoveries that inspired this presentation of previously unseen works from his oeuvre.Pace’s show will feature groupings of multimedia works based on various motifs that Frank revisited throughout his career, offering a new way of seeing his work that will deepen viewers’ understanding of his artistic processes and motivations. The photographs on view, some of which feature multiple frames in a single image, hand drawn etchings, and inscribed phrases, will showcase his long-standing interest in re-presenting older photographs from his past as new compositions, or ‘variants.’ Frank’s 2004 autobiographical short film True Story will also be presented in its entirety at the gallery. The atemporality of his photography and filmmaking—for which he pieced together fragments of not only images but also his own memories, dreams, and ideas—will be on full view in the exhibition.The artworks in the presentation will be complemented by a selection of archival materials, including glass plates with etchings, journal pages, sketches, and other rarely exhibited pieces. Enriching viewers’ experience of the photographs on the gallery walls, these objects will invite a holistic and personal view of Frank’s life and his inventive, genre defying approach to image making.Early in his career, after receiving his first Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955, the Swiss-born photographer embarked on a two-year trip across the United States during which he captured over 28,000 candid, poignant images of American life in the mid 20th century. Eighty-three of those images were ultimately included in his groundbreaking monograph The Americans, first published by Robert Delpire in 1958 in Paris (as Les Américains) and the following year by Grove Press in New York, with an introduction by Jack Kerouac.Aperture is re-releasing Frank’s seminal photobook in this anniversary year, and, as part of Art Basel Unlimited this summer, Pace, in collaboration with Zander Galerie, presented all 83 photographs in this iconic body of work—plus an eighty-fourth print, a triptych image, that the artist added to the end of the sequence for Aperture’s 1978 edition of The Americans.Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visions coincides with three other major presentations of the artist’s work: Life Dances On: Robert Frank in Dialogue, a survey tracing six decades of his career, as well as a complete retrospective of his videos and films, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York; Robert Frank: Mary’s Book, an in-depth look at the personal scrapbook of photographs that Frank made for his first wife Mary Lockspeiser, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Robert Frank: Be Happy, a show of 34 photographs and select documents, at the Museum Folkwang in Essen, Germany. This fall, ahead of the opening of Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visions, Pace will spotlight a selection of works by Frank on its booth at Paris Photo—further details about the gallery’s presentation at the fair will be revealed in due course. Read More FilmsOcean Vuong on Robert FrankIn our new film, poet, essayist, and novelist Ocean Vuong—who contributed a new text to Pace Publishing's book accompanying the gallery's upcoming exhibition of Frank's work—answers five questions about Robert Frank and his relationship to the photographer's work. Robert Frank, (untitled), n.d. © The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation EssaysThe Elegiac Genius of Robert Frankby Ocean VuongRead Now Robert Frank, Fire Below - to the East America, Mabou, 1979 © The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation EssaysForeword to Robert Frank: Hope Makes Visionsby Shahrzad KamelRead Now Featured Works Robert Frank, Seament Cement It Is Like Me, Mabou, 1979, group of 2 works Learn More Close modal View Previous View Next Carousel slide 0 Carousel slide 1 Carousel slide 2 Robert Frank Seament Cement It Is Like Me, Mabou 1979 group of 2 works Inquire How can we reach you? First Name* Last Name* Email* Phone Inquiry Message Have you purchased from Pace before?* Yes No Submit Inquiry Or go back Robert Frank, Look Out for Hope, Mabou – New York City / Monuments of Glory and Regret, 1979 / 1994, group of 7 works Learn More Close modal View Previous View Next Carousel slide 0 Carousel slide 1 Carousel slide 2 Carousel slide 3 Carousel slide 4 Carousel slide 5 Carousel slide 6 Carousel slide 7 Robert Frank Look Out for Hope, Mabou – New York City / Monuments of Glory and Regret 1979 / 1994 group of 7 works Inquire How can we reach you? First Name* Last Name* Email* Phone Inquiry Message Have you purchased from Pace before?* Yes No Submit Inquiry Or go back Robert Frank, Andrea, Mabou / The War is Over, Mabou, c. 1976-1978 / 1998, group of 3 works Learn More Close modal View Previous View Next Carousel slide 0 Carousel slide 1 Carousel slide 2 Carousel slide 3 Robert Frank Andrea, Mabou / The War is Over, Mabou c. 1976-1978 / 1998 group of 3 works Inquire How can we reach you? First Name* Last Name* Email* Phone Inquiry Message Have you purchased from Pace before?* Yes No Submit Inquiry Or go back Robert Frank, Mabou, 1995, gelatin silver print, 10-15/16" × 13-7/8" (27.8 cm × 35.2 cm), image and paper Learn More Close modal Robert Frank Mabou 1995 gelatin silver print 10-15/16" × 13-7/8" (27.8 cm × 35.2 cm), image and paper Inquire How can we reach you? First Name* Last Name* Email* Phone Inquiry Message Have you purchased from Pace before?* Yes No Submit Inquiry Or go back Robert Frank, Electric Dog, Mabou, 1977, gelatin silver print, 12-13/16" × 19-1/16" (32.5 cm × 48.4 cm), image 15-15/16" × 19-7/8" (40.5 cm × 50.5 cm), paper Learn More Close modal Robert Frank Electric Dog, Mabou 1977 gelatin silver print 12-13/16" × 19-1/16" (32.5 cm × 48.4 cm), image 15-15/16" × 19-7/8" (40.5 cm × 50.5 cm), paper Inquire How can we reach you? First Name* Last Name* Email* Phone Inquiry Message Have you purchased from Pace before?* Yes No Submit Inquiry Or go back Installation Views 1/12 2/12 3/12 4/12 5/12 6/12 7/12 8/12 9/12 10/12 11/12 12/12 Carousel slide 0 Carousel slide 1 Carousel slide 2 Carousel slide 3 Carousel slide 4 Carousel slide 5 Carousel slide 6 Carousel slide 7 Carousel slide 8 Carousel slide 9 Carousel slide 10 Carousel slide 11 About the ArtistConsidered one of the most influential figures in the history of photography, Robert Frank redefined the aesthetic of both the still and the moving image via his pictures and films. Soon after his emigration to New York in 1947, Alexey Brodovitch hired Frank as a fashion photographer for Harper’s Bazaar. The position brought many occasions for travel, and Frank’s impressions of the United States, in comparison to other places, impacted his work. After receiving his first Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955, Frank embarked on a two-year trip across America during which he took over 28,000 pictures. Eighty-three of those images were ultimately published in Frank’s groundbreaking monograph The Americans, first by Robert Delpire in 1958 in Paris, and a year later by Grove Press in the United States. Frank’s unorthodox cropping, lighting, and sense of focus attracted criticism. His work, however, was not without supporters. Beat writers Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg felt a kinship with Frank and his interest in documenting the fabric of contemporary society. Eventually The Americans jettisoned Frank into a position of cultural prominence; he became the spokesperson for a generation of visual artists, musicians, and literary figures both in the United States and abroad.Learn More Journal View All Films Hank Willis Thomas on The Spirit that Unites Us All Dec 03, 2024 News Public Art Fund Announces 2025 Exhibition by Torkwase Dyson Nov 19, 2024 News Yto Barrada to Represent France at La Biennale di Venezia in 2026 Nov 19, 2024 Essays The Elegiac Genius of Robert Frank, by Ocean Vuong Nov 14, 2024 Overview Exhibition Film Essays Featured Works Installation Views About the Artist Journal