Arrive Magazine - September/October, 2009

When Greenough realized that 2009 would mark the 50th anniversary of The Americans, she wasn’t sure Robert Frank would be up for a celebratory exhibit.

“I knew it would be something he would have absolutely no interest in whatsoever,” she jokes. After receiving a little too much attention for this particular set of photographs and not enough for his later photo and film work, Frank was, as Greenough describes it, “like a rock star who’s asked to sing the same song over and over.” But after subsequent shows in the late ’90s and early 2000s brought more recognition for his later work, Frank again warmed up to The Americans and agreed to collaborate on the show and its fascinating, comprehensive exhibition catalog.

Notoriously reluctant to be interviewed, Frank sat down with Greenough for a question-and-answer session at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., where the exhibition tour began last spring. In this and other interviews, Frank seems a friendly if somewhat reductive man, an artist who rejects complex

interpretations of his work. When Greenough read an eloquent passage from his 1954 Guggenheim grant application, Frank wryly commented, “Under the application, my name was signed, but [master photographer and mentor] Walker Evans wrote most of that.”

Dubious authorship notwithstanding, Frank won the Guggenheim grant and used the money to finance the 1955

and 1956 cross-country road trips that produced The Americans. During the journey, he was arbitrarily arrested twice, but rather than dampening his spirits, Frank told Greenough, “I think it helped me take a really sharp look at these people: how they looked, how they leaned against the wall, how they looked at you or at each other and how they treated you or each other.”

Frankly Speaking

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Met will host an array of educational programs, such as a conversation with Robert Frank on Oct. 9; a concert, “Patti Smith and Friends– A Salute to Robert Frank,” on Oct. 17; and a subscription series of Frank’s films throughout October. metmuseum.org