Beschreibung:

Robert Frank1924 - 2019Detroit (Drug Store)
oversized gelatin silver print, signed, titled, and dated ‘1956’ in ink in the margin, framed, a Pace/MacGill Gallery label on the reverse, 1955, printed laterimage: 22 ¾ by 15 ¼ in. (57.8 by 38.7 cm.)frame: 33 ½ by 25 ¾ in. (85.1 by 65.4 cm.)Condition reportPlease note the colors and shades in the online catalogue illustration may vary depending on screen settings.
This large print is in generally excellent condition. The upper margin edge is gently rippled, and the upper left margin corner is bumped. 
There are several stray graphite deposits on the reverse. ‘XX’, '6903-I', and 'RF.A.069.1' are written in pencil in an unidentified hand on the reverse.
The lot is sold in the condition it is in at the time of sale. The condition report is provided to assist you with assessing the condition of the lot and is for guidance only. Any reference to condition in the condition report for the lot does not amount to a full description of condition. The images of the lot form part of the condition report for the lot. Certain images of the lot provided online may not accurately reflect the actual condition of the lot. In particular, the online images may represent colors and shades which are different to the lot's actual color and shades. The condition report for the lot may make reference to particular imperfections of the lot but you should note that the lot may have other faults not expressly referred to in the condition report for the lot or shown in the online images of the lot. The condition report may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. The condition report is a statement of opinion only. For that reason, the condition report is not an alternative to taking your own professional advice regarding the condition of the lot. NOTWITHSTANDING THIS ONLINE CONDITION REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE/BUSINESS APPLICABLE TO THE RESPECTIVE SALE.ProvenancePace/MacGill Gallery, New York, circa 2000LiteratureThe Americans, no. 69Greenough, Sarah, Looking In: Robert Frank’s “The Americans” (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2009), pp. 294, 479, and 480, and Contact no. 69Maloney, Tom, ed., ‘The Year’s Best Pictures…U.S. Camera 1958,’ U.S. Camera Publishing Corp., New York, 1957, p. 101Robert Frank: Story Lines (Tate Modern, London, 2004), frontispiece 5Michael Shelden, 'Melancholy and Menace,' Telegraph Magazine, 3 May 2008, p. 34Catalogue note“Sitting around in the drugstore. I remember often going into Woolworth's. I photographed a lot. . . I'd get a Coke. . . Normally when I came to a town, it was the first place I went to. For some reason I found it very heartening.” - Robert Frank
This view of a busy lunch counter in Detroit, Michigan was taken during Robert Frank’s two year, Guggenheim Fellowship-funded trip across the country that would ultimately result in his seminal 1958 photobook, The Americans. Frank took a great number of photographs in Detroit: settings including a frenetic assembly line at the Ford Motor company, a drive-in movie theater, and Belle Isle, an island park on the border with Canada. Nine of the eighty-three photographs in The Americans were made in Detroit, more than in any other locale.
Many images taken during Frank’s travels were in restaurants, cafes, bars, and automats. Aside from a place to eat and rest, these were comfortable, yet bustling places where Frank could quietly sit and observe the social behaviors inherent to various communities across the nation.
This is the largest print of this image to come to auction. Three smaller prints of this image have sold at Sotheby’s, one of which was part of the December 2015 auction Robert Frank The Americans The Ruth And Jake Bloom Collection. Prints of this image are in several museum collections including the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.