Girls playing with suitcase--Children
1941-1945
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
sheet (trimmed to image): 5.8 x 5.5 cm (2 5/16 x 2 3/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Robert Frank Collection, Gift of Robert Frank
Accession Number
1994.37.276
Art Historical Context
In the midst of World War II (1941–1945), Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank captured tender moment in *Girls playing with suitcase—*, a gelatin silver print measuring just 5.8 × 5.5 cm. Created when Frank was still a teenager honing his craft in Zurich, this intimate snapshot depicts young girls delighting in the simple joy of play amid a suitcase—perhaps evoking themes of displacement, travel, or everyday resilience during wartime uncertainty in neutral Switzerland. The small, trimmed format underscores its personal, candid nature, like a cherished family keepsake rather than a grand compo...
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...