Family near ocean, Spain
1952
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
sheet: 20.3 x 25.2 cm (8 x 9 15/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Robert Frank Collection, Gift of Robert Frank
Accession Number
1990.28.306
Art Historical Context
**Family near Ocean, Spain** (1952) is a poignant gelatin silver print by Robert, a Swiss-born photographer who became a defining voice in 20th-century documentary photography. Measuring 20.3 x 25.2 cm, this intimate image captures a family moment by the Spanish seaside during Frank's European travels, just before his iconic road trip across America. Now housed in the National Gallery Art's Robert Frank Collectiongifted by the artist—it exemplifies his early mastery of street photography. Gelatin silver prints, the medium here, were prized in the mid-20th for their exquisite tonal depth and d...
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...