Men of Air/New York
1947
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 35.1 x 23.6 cm (13 13/16 x 9 5/16 in.) sheet: 35.1 x 31.4 cm (13 13/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Robert Frank Collection, Gift of Robert Frank in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
1990.28.29.25
Art Historical Context
"Men of Air/New York (1947) captures Robert Frank's fresh perspective on America just months after his arrival from Switzerland. Shot in the bustling heart of New York City, this early work marks the beginning of Frank's transformative journey as a photographer, predating his iconic book *The Americans* (1958). As a Swiss émigré navigating post-World War II optimism and urban energy, Frank began documenting the raw, everyday poetry of American life, blending European humanism with a distinctly personal gaze. Printed as a gelatin silver print—a classic black-and-white medium prized for its ric...
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...