Fourth of July—Jay, New York
1954
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 47.5 × 31.1 cm (18 11/16 × 12 1/4 in.) sheet: 50.4 × 40.5 cm (19 13/16 × 15 15/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Dr. J. Patrick and Patricia A. Kennedy, in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of Photography at the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
2014.155.6
Art Historical Context
Robert Frank's *Fourth of July—Jay New York* (1954) captures a quintessential moment of mid-20th-century American life during the nation's Independence Day celebrations in a small upstate New York town. Created as part of Frank's groundbreaking road trip across the United States—funded by a Guggenheim Fellowship—this gelatin silver print reflects the Swiss-born photographer's fresh, unflinching gaze on postwar America. Frank's work challenged romanticized views of the country, blending candid observation with subtle social commentary, and this image evokes the patriotic fervor of the era amid ...
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...