Television studio—Burbank, California
1956
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 15.8 x 23.9 cm (6 1/4 x 9 7/16 in.) sheet: 20.4 x 25.3 cm (8 1/16 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
1990.28.131
Art Historical Context
In 1956, Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank captured *Television studio—Burb, California* during his transformative road trip across the United States. This gelatin silver print, a classic black-and-white process prized for its rich tonal range and fine detail, measures just 15.8 x 23.9 cm, inviting intimate contemplation of mid-century American life. Donated from Frank's own collection to the Gallery of Art, it his raw, documentary style that challenged polished postwar optimism. Frank's image zeroes in on the bustling heart of Hollywood's television industry in Burbank, home to studios li...
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...