Beaufort, South Carolina

In 1955, Robert Frank traveled across the United States funded by a Guggenheim grant, with the intention of “making a broad, voluminous picture record of things American, past and present.” In the course of his journey, he exposed about 800 rolls of 35 mm film, a format which lent the work a grainy immediacy. His final selection included only 83 images, which he carefully sequenced for his book The Americans. This groundbreaking publication was perhaps the most influential photographic book of the era, rejecting the traditions of routine editorial and commercial photography to present a more immediate, personal vision of post-World War II America.

Frank’s vision was both lyrical and melancholic. As seen in this image, Frank was particularly attuned to those Americans who lived outside the cultural mainstream, such as African Americans, the poor, and the elderly.