Legendary Photographer Robert Frank Passes

Robert Frank, one of the most influential photographers of the 20th Century, died today Sept. 9th in Nova Scotia. Frank, who was 94, mentored countless photographers, with his ground breaking book "The Americas", published in 1959, was a collection of unsparing photos of the United States, made over his cross country road trips during the 1950's. His grainy, gritty, black & white pictures changed the course of documentary photography, offering a frank assessment of racism, alienation, and class differences. Jack Kerouac, who wrote the book's introduction, famously said that the book "sucked a sad poem out of America." Frank also changed the way photographers approached the medium, laying ground work for photographers like Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and Gary Winogrand as well as leagues of others young photographers who would follow. He eventually became as much a film maker as a photographer as 'Pull My Daisy' his first film, is considered one of the most important avant-garde film of all time - but it was "The Americas" that established his place in the history of photography.