While mostly ignored by the local DC media, yet providing interesting fodder and eye candy for the hundreds of thousands of atypical museum goers seeking entertainment before last week’s inauguration ceremony, the Robert Frank exhibit at the National Gallery is a Washington monument in and of itself. At the same time as the show’s organizers conceived the opening to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Frank’s ‘The Americans,’ it is no coincidence that the seminal exhibit began its tour in the nation’s capital, two days before the inauguration of our new executive chief. Highly criticized at the time of its publishing for its critical and controversial portrayal of the United States, ‘The Americans’ now stands as both a time piece, and a continuing testament to the complex nature of our social, political, religious, and economic milieu. As the new administration has touted change since its grass roots inception, the Frank show, as a historical record, depicts the many things that have changed in 50 years but, as a continuing dialogue, represents the bounty that has not.

Similar to the emotive consequence of Frank’s 2003 London/Wales exhibit at the Corcoran, the brazen character of Frank’s early documentary work and his adroit ability to probe deep into the nature of the modern, westernized human condition is the defining characteristic of Frank’s camerawork, and thus the show. From the more simply composed images of bystanders and personalities to intricately ordered pictures calling upon networks of ironic unions, Frank’s handiwork delineates him as one of the most significant photographic artists of the medium’s history. Nonetheless, as previously mentioned, notably today is the dialogue that Frank’s work instigates. As we attempt to move into a new season here at home and around the world, seeking to open new doors communally and individually, a refresher course of Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ comes at no better time.

January 29th, 2009 | Uncategorized