Family--Wellfleet 16
1962
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
contact sheet
Dimensions
overall: 25.2 x 20.1 cm (9 15/16 x 7 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
1990.28.3319
Art Historical Context
**Family—Wellfleet 16** by Robert Frank offers an intimate window into the photographer's personal life, in 1962 during his time in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. Swiss-born Frank, renowned for his groundbreaking 1958 book *The*, shifted from stark critiques of mid-century U.S. society to tender family moments here. This contact sheet—unprinted proofs directly from the negative film—reveals multiple frames of his wife, children, and daily domesticity, highlighting the raw, unedited rhythm of everyday existence. As a medium, the contact sheet is rare in exhibitions, underscoring Frank's documentary...
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...