Documentary photographer Robert Frank, known for his black-and-white observations of American life, has died at 94.
Frank, born in Zurich in 1924, emigrated to New York in 1947 where he briefly worked as a fashion photographer for “Harper’s Bazaar” before leaving to travel in South America.
Returning to New York in 1949, he spent the next few years traveling back and forth to cities in Europe working on photo projects.
After receiving his first Guggenheim Fellowship in 1955, he traveled around the United States for two years, taking over 28,000 photos of the people and places he encountered along the way.
Eighty-three photos from his trip were published first in France and then in the U.S. in the 1959 monograph, "The Americans."
While the initial reception wasn’t entirely positive, it would eventually be appreciated for Frank’s ability to illustrate America’s troubles and beauty in a way that hadn’t quite been done before.
The book went on to inspire generations of documentary photographers and Frank continued to take photos and make films for decades.
Among his many honors, he received a Cornell Capa Infinity Award, while his work has been seen in galleries and museums around the world.