Robert Frank

mounted, signed, titled, and dated '1957?' in black ink and with cropping notation in red ink and numbers in pencil on the mount, 1958

Halsted Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan

Peter Galassi, Robert Frank in America (Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts, Stanford University, 2014), p. 150

This somewhat warm-toned early print, on paper with a slightly glossy surface, is in generally very good condition. In raking light, the following are visible: small creases that likely occurred prior to mounting in the upper and lower right corners; linear indentations in the lower right quadrant; a raised linear area at the lower edge; and faint silvering. The mount is soiled and is age-darkened at the periphery. There are printing notations in red ink below the likely sunned area below the lower edge of the photograph where the signature, title, and date are written in black ink. There are semi-circular red ink markings at the lower right corner of the mount. '55/6' is written in the lower left corner, and 'R53' and 'R59' (marked out) are present in the lower right corner of the mount. The reverse of the mount is also soiled, and the periphery is age-darkened. There are cloth tape remnants at the upper edge. When examined with ultraviolet light, this print does not appear to fluoresce.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

When Robert Frank agreed to accompany Jack Kerouac on a road trip to Florida in April 1958 to fetch the writer’s mother, cats, typewriter and old manuscripts, LIFE magazine agreed to pay their expenses for food and gas in the hope that a picture story might result.  The story was never published, but this photograph, of a psychedelic motorcyclist at Daytona Beach, was made by Frank during the journey. 

In January 1970, Evergreen Review posthumously published Kerouac's account of their trip under the title 'On the Road To Florida,' illustrated with Frank's photographs.  Kerouac wrote about seeing Frank in action: 

‘I was amazed to see how a photographic artist does the bit, of catching those things about the American road writers write about . . . I didn’t see anything particular to photograph, or “write about” . . . I suddenly realized I was taking a trip with a genuine artist and that he was expressing himself in an art-form that was not unlike my own and yet fraught with a thousand difficulties quite unlike those of my own. . . The result: Whatever it is, it’s America.  It’s the American Road and it awakens the eye every time’ (pp. 43 and 64).