ROBERT FRANK (1924–2019)
Candy Store, 86th Street, New York 1955

Start price: €22.000

Estimate: € 35.000-40.000

Gelatin silver print, printed in 1970s, double-weight semi-matte paper, in very good condition

20,1 x 30,3 cm

Signed, titled and dated by the photographer in ink in the margin, photographer’s “Robert Frank Archive” stamp and copyright stamp with signature and print date on the reverse

PROVENANCE Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, 1995

LITERATURE Robert Frank, The Americans, Paris 1958, no. 10; Sarah Greenough (ed.), Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans, Washington 2009, pp. 221, 463, Contact no. 10; Eskildsen, Robert Frank: HOLD STILL_keep going, p. 82, variant.

Robert Franks bahnbrechendes Buch „The Americans“ von 1958 enthält einige paradigmatische Motive, die sich an strategischen Positionen durchgehend wiederholen, darunter die amerikanische Flagge, das Automobil und, wie hier, die Jukebox. Letzterer begegnete Frank überall auf seinen Reisen quer durch das Land in Bars, Restaurants und Speiselokalen. Mit ihren blinkenden Lämpchen und geschmeidigen Kurven waren Musikautomaten unbestreitbar photogen, außerdem verbreiteten sie die pulsierenden neuen Klänge des Rock-and-Roll. Für Frank war eine Ansammlung von Teenagern, die sich um eine Jukebox drängte, die Quintessenz eines typisch amerikanischen Motives. Ein weiterer Abzug dieses Bildes befindet sich in der Sammlung des Art Institute of Chicago. Robert Frank punctuated his seminal 1958 book “The Americans” with resonant visual motifs repeated strategically throughout, including the American flag, the automobile, and, as in the image offered here, the jukebox. The jukebox was a feature Frank encountered in bars, restaurants, and diners in his cross-country travels. With their sleek curves and glowing facades, jukeboxes were undeniably photogenic and provided the pulsating new sounds of rock-and-roll. For Frank, a congregation of teenagers crowding around a music machine was a quintessentially American motive. An additional print of this image is in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.