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2009
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April
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- Artist Talk: Mike Benjamin, Sarah Kramer, and Anne...
- reflection on Delilah Montoya's Lecture
- Artist Talk: Robert Frank on "The Americans"
- Artist Talk - Richard Nickolson
- Summary on Delilah Montoya Talk
- Thoughts--> Delilah Montoya "Chicanas in Art"
- Delilah Montoya artist talk
- volume up before you click on this link
- happy easter
- RESPONSE TO ROBERT FRANK FIELD TRIP
- Project 2 Response
- All Student Art Show
- project 2
- Project_02 Assessment
- Project 2 Assessment
- Project_02 Assessment: Detour
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April
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Going to the National Museum last week was good. We got the chance to see Robert Frank's "The Americans" work outside of the book form. I actually preferred looking at the photos in the gallery opposed to the photo book. I feel that the photo book does not give the viewers the chance to see as much detail as a blown up size photograph does. Maybe I feel this way because the photo book we saw in class was small.
ReplyDeleteI feel that there are pros and cons to seeing Frank's work in both formats of a book and in enlarged versions. Some of the pros are that little details are seen clearer. You get to fully see Frank's gritty, new style of photography. I feel as though the enlarged photos give the viewer a chance to see the whole book in a bigger scale and in a different format. Some of the cons would be that maybe Frank did not want his viewers to see his photos so large. Part of his idea to create a new style of art is through the photobook. another con would be that if you look at his photos in a gallery there is no way that you can hold the book and actually feel what you are looking at. Sometimes it's better to be able to look and feel at the same time. Either way, it was still nice to see both formats.
My favorite part of the exhibit as the "Black, White, and Things" section of the photo book. I loved the gradual color change from dark photogrpahs to light photograpghs. There was also a theme of going from one place to another in this section of the book which helped visuall see the prgression from dark to light photograpghs. I wish that we had a little more time in our tour groups to ask questions about the photograpghs but it was still nice to see Frank's photo book and going to see his work gave me a few ideas for my own semester long project.
Visiting the Robert Frank exhibit at the National Museum gave a different spin on Frank's work. The pictures remained in the same order as the book but they could be compared to each other. They were seen side by side, and the photos were larger showing details that could be missed in smaller prints. There were also little blurbs every three pictures or so describing the previous set of pictures. I thought that was a nice touch, in case people did not have time to review the books on their own. The museum also had copies of The Americans scattered around the room on the center couches allowing people to view the photos the way Frank wanted them to be seen, in book form.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that sections one to three were in one room and section four was in a separate room. I am not sure if that was intentional or if they just did not have enough space in one room to fit all of the pictures. I think putting pictures in sequential order in a room is a difficult process. The pictures (for sections one to three) started on the left wall went around past the door into the next room and ended back at the entrance to the room. However, the final section (the fourth) starts in the next room. I feel as though that could have been done better, but I am not sure how to do it.
I appreciate that the National Museum did not just focus on The Americans but looked at some of Frank’s other works and on the process he went through to make the books. It was interesting to see his thought process step by step, moving through selection of work prints to final prints to organization of the final prints into the final project. Seeing his process was my favorite part, because it is very similar to what I do, throw pictures on the wall/floor/both and move them around until I like what I see.
On many levels, this was a fascinating show. For me, the coalescing moment came when Monica and I returned to the “Americans” exhibit after the end of our tour. Like Rachel, my favorite part of the show was Frank’s “Black, White, & Things” room (alas, out of print!). Monica and I spent fifteen minutes or more walking around that room, and we got into a debate about the final four images from the book, which all involved horses. In order, they showed a horse pulling a carriage, a horse hanging in a slaughterhouse (or standing on one leg, if you’re blind like me), an old horse being taunted by a boy, and a young horse carrying a man away from the sunset.
ReplyDeleteMonica thought the boy was taunting the horse; I thought it was happily discovering a horse. We bickered. A few minutes later, in the next we room, we sat down with the book form of “Black, White, and Things.” Seeing the book changed everything.
In class, we’ve discussed how, in addition to our “spreads”, our books needed to sequence all our right-hand images – since the reader’s eye would naturally see the right pages first. This is precisely what Frank did with those four horse pictures. His light filter, tonal quality, and orientation of subjects matched with every other photo. Rather than seeing them in linear order, as they were hanging on the wall (Young Horse – Dead Horse – Old Horse – Sunset Horse), Frank wanted us to see them in spaced couplets (Young Horse / Old Horse – Dead Horse / Sunset Horse).
This epiphany did three things. First, it proved that Monica’s interpretation of the sequence was correct. (Props). Second, it drove home the importance of dealing with all the sequences in photobooks – even those we barely notice. Third, it showed me how, despite the best efforts of the National Gallery, a timeless photobook is just that, a book, and that it will never look right hanging on a wall.
Visiting the Robert Frank exhibit at the National Gallery gave me a much deeper understanding of the intricacies of Frank’s sequencing and image choices. The tour by the curator provided some interesting insights into Frank’s opinions of his photos and his aim with the project. I really liked that Frank sought to be an observer, rather than a commenter. The main controversy of Frank’s work lies in the messages that can be interpreted from it. These are important stories to be told, but the conclusions are not Frank’s to make.
ReplyDeleteI loved being able to see the steps of his process: the letters, work prints, contact sheets, and earlier books. The actual shooting of the images was natural. Frank crafted his book in the editing of images and the selection of the final 83. Making these choices would overwhelm me; thousands of good shots were thrown out. Frank couldn’t evaluate an image on its own; he had to consider how it would work in the larger conversation of images. I like how he decided to get rid of images that were too obvious, too heavy-handed.
Seeing the prints on the wall, rather than in a book, certainly changes the feeling. In one of Frank’s sequences in “Black, White and Things,” the placement of images on the right or the left page completely changes the order in which the images are viewed. According to page number, the left page should come first and is therefore placed first on the wall. But in the book, the right page is the page that the eye sees first and orders before the left page. His placement decisions are clearly directed towards the book medium, not a gallery wall.
Reaction to the Robert Frank Exhibit
ReplyDeleteThe experience of being in the presence of Robert Frank’s work was such an educational and eye-opening experience. Just reading about it and seeing images on a screen was nothing compared to seeing the prints, work prints, and even contact sheets, and learning about the man behind camera. Learning about his previous work and his early methodology really gave me a new viewpoint and perspective on how to approach photography and working with organizing images into a Photobook. It was amazing to look at his previous work and watch the evolution of methodology.
After really learning about and observing his previous works leading up to the Americas, I realized that his work reminded me a lot of street photography, where he uses the lens to observe the world and the interactions in the world. At first glance his images were just visually engaging, but after hearing the explanations and understanding the relationships that the images had to one another the images really started engaging both visually and mentally. I started looking for the links myself and adding meaning to the sequential images.
There were three aspects of the exhibit that were extremely interesting to me. I found it so interesting to see number one the influences on his work and on how he approached photography. The second and third favorites were looking at his work prints and his contact sheets. Looking at and examining his work prints and contact sheets really highlighted his hand in his work and how he approached his work. The work prints absolutely fascinated me because it showed how he linked images, it showed the decisions that he made for his images and how for me it showed a little hint at his method of working with his images.
After traveling through the exhibit and learning so many interesting facts about Robert Frank and "The Americans" it both reminded me of other photographers who I think photograph the realness in the world and it also inspired me. After learning about Robert Frank and his work, it reminded me of James Nachtway and how he too uses photography to capture raw images of interactions with and in the world, although they photographed in my opinion based on two completely different concepts. Since Nachtway is a war photographer.
Going to the Robert Frank exhibit was absolutely amazing, it was unreal to be able to see the actual prints that robert frank himself made and picked out of thousands and thousands of other possible options. I think my favorite part of the hole show was being able to look at and study the contact sheets that robert frank worked with years and years ago. I loved following the pictures to see where he went on his trip and the ideas and types of pictures he had a habit of taking. It was amazing to look at a photo on a contact sheet that was circled because there was normally that same photo except the zoom may have been different or the way the camera cropped the photo was different, it was unreal to see out of a handful of pictures that looked the same except for a few differences which photos robert frank actually choose as the final pictures for the photobook 'The Americans'. It was also extremely interesting to see Robert Franks take on video and how his photobook was laid out that shows he was into video and the photos were not placed in any old order but rather had a reason as to why they were grouped they way they were and where they were placed in the book itself. Overall seeing the process he took to take the photos and then pick them out was extremely interesting and my favorite part.
ReplyDelete"I am always looking outside,
ReplyDeletetrying to look inside,
trying to say something
that is true.
But maybe nothing
is really true.
Except what's out there.
And what's out there
is constantly changing."
- Robert Frank
Robert Frank is an incredible and influential photographer. All of his photography on display proves this to be true.
For me, the coolest part of the trip was to actually see large images from The Americans hanging on the wall, not in a book. The quality of the images upclose is amazing. I am starting to like granier film more and more as I see different photographers use it. I think that the granier film adds to the feeling and the antiquity of the whole exhibit in general.
One, or three of the most striking images to me, were images from what I think were Zurich to New York. There were three images set up one next to the other and they were obviously taken while Frank was on the go. The three images have these vertical lines, that could not have happened on purpose judging from how fast he took his shots while he was out walking. My favorite is "Georgie at Noon time." This was placed next to "Melvin Tocker 6am."
Getting back to "The Americans" it was so interesting to have a curator take us around and answer questions. It was awesome to see Jack Kerouac's original rough drafts of the introduction as well as many of Franks work prints together in the same room. The behind the scenes action that put the whole book into play.
Overall, the emotion that Frank was able to portray in his photos is nothing short of incredibe. He is able to channel his emotions and new experiences to his work for perfect translation by the viewers.
Studying photographers such as Frank is very inspirational to me. It was so cool to get a chance to revisit the exhibit especially after hearing him speak about The Americans (which I will write about in another paper). Hearing what he did and how he photographed was amazing. Frank sought to photograph "people you don't see."
I find it incredible that there were ober 28000 images and he edited them down to 83 for his final book. Frank sought to break out of the mold which led photographers to try to shoot one single image to capture everything (this is like reading, you can never be fully satisfied), hence the photobook.
It was cool to hear about the history of the photobook as well as it evolved from focusing on different perspectives in the 20's to documentation in the 30's to post war photo journalism in the 40's and 50's into more conceptual and loose art books in the 60's and 70's.
DC proved to be a great field trip. This semester is becoming more inspirational each day. Studying photographers such as Robert Frank and James Nachtwey is teaching me a lot about what it means to be a photographer and the kinds of situations that photographers find themselves in. I think that the hardest part is putting yourself out there and blending in, so that one can make incredible images as these two have done.
This was an incredible field trip. It's really cool that we got to see Robert Frank's other work as well as elements of the process that went into creating the Americans. I especially liked the wall of prints because there was no glass up and it was exciting to stand so close.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed hearing about his earlier work (Mary's book, the series of workers on his street, and Black, White, and Things, in particular). It was also cool to hear about the context in which he was working and how Life magazine rejected him a number of times because his images were too "gritty." The information about the context and seeing the smaller photobook exhibit helped me understand why he became so well-known and why his work is so important.