Band rehearsing, CBS TV studio--Burbank, California
c. 1955/1956
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
sheet: 25.2 x 20.3 cm (9 15/16 x 8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Robert Frank Collection, Gift of Robert Frank
Accession Number
1990.28.629
Art Historical Context
In the mid-1950s, Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank captured the behind-the-scenes energy of American television production with *Band rehearsing, CBS studio—Burbank, California* (c. 1955/1956). This silver print, measuring about 10 x 8 inches, freezes a candid moment of musicians huddled in intense preparation within the bustling CBS studio in Burbank. Frank's raw, unposed style reveals the gritty underbelly of show business, contrasting the polished broadcasts that defined postwar entertainment. Frank took this image during his transformative Guggenheim Fellowship road trip across the Un...
About the Artist
Robert Frank
Robert Frank (1924-2019) was a Swiss-American photographer and documentary filmmaker whose revolutionary approach to documentary photography fundamentally transformed the medium and influenced generations of artists. Born in Zurich, Switzerland, on November 9, 1924, to a middle-class Jewish family, Frank began his photographic apprenticeship in 1941, working with commercial photographers before im...