Photography After Frank

In Photography After Frank, New York Times writer and former picture editor Philip Gefter presents a page-turning look at contemporary photography, starting with a pivotal moment: Robert Frank’s seminal work in the 1950s. Charting the medium’s trajectory through a variety of genres and practices, Gefter postulates that photography post-Frank has created a paradoxical self-consciousness. While the photographic image has brought us to a heightened awareness of the world around us, the constant representation of who we are has conspired against our natural state of innocence. 


Gefter begins with Robert Frank’s challenge to photography’s formal objectivity with the grainy, off-handed spontaneity of The Americans. Next comes the challenge to the factual fidelity of “documentary” photography with the evolution of the “staged document.” Other topics and themes include photojournalism; portraiture; the influence of collectors; and the market’s effect on art-making, such as the spawning of super-sized prints. Throughout the book, Gefter seamlessly interweaves Frank’s legacy with the work of dozens of important artists who have followed in his wake, from Lee Friedlander and Nan Goldin to Stephen Shore and Sze Tsung Leong.


Included are texts written exclusively for this publication as well as essays drawn from Gefter’s critical writings, reviews, and even obituaries for the New York Times and other publications.