Robert Frank

signed, titled, and dated '1955' ink in the margin, numerical notations in pencil on the reverse, framed, Bloom Collection and Pace Wildenstein MacGill labels on the reverse, 1955, printed in the 1970s

Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York, 1998

The Americans, no. 25

Sarah Greenough, Looking In: Robert Frank’s The Americans, pp. 239 and 468, and Contact no. 25

Robert Frank: Story Lines, frontispiece 2

This print, on double-weight paper with a semi-glossy surface, is in generally excellent condition. The emulsion is lifting slightly along the lower right margin edge. The outer margin (that has been covered by a mat) appears slightly more gray than the area nearest to the image. There are a few light scuffs on the reverse of the print. The following is written in an unidentified hand in pencil on the reverse: 'RF.A.025' and '2501-I (J).' When viewed under ultraviolet light, this print appears to fluoresce faintly.
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.

Often overlooked and rarely seen at auction, this portrayal of guests in a ‘Big Hotel’ lobby in Miami fills a particular role in the book.  In an early interview Frank said, ‘I did try to photograph the richer people, the upper class people.  But it was very hard to get to them because those people are in their homes.  They are away from the viewer.  They are away from the public view.  You can’t get in to their country clubs.  These people just were excluded from the people I photographed.  Not because I didn’t want to photograph them.  But it was too hard to get in to photograph them’ (quoted in ‘Robert Frank at George Eastman House 17 and 18 August 1967,’ Stuart Alexander, ed., Katalog, vol. 9, no. 4, Fall 1997, p. 36). 

In The Americans, this photograph of the frowning heavy-set man and woman is sequenced immediately before Butte, Montana, View from Hotel Window (Lot 20).  The striations of the woman’s fur subtly recall the stripes of the flag in Hoboken (Parade) (Lot 8), while the fanciful European scene on the woman’s print dress mocks the dark mosaic of Butte’s pit-side landscape that follows.

As of this writing, it is believed that only one other print of this image has appeared at auction.