William Wegman - Vignette - 1971

I found the the highlight of the show was in fact, at the end of the exhibit.  Two long walls are filled with prints from Robert Frank's book of photography, "The Americans."  He received a grant from the Guggenheim Foundation and traveled across the US in the 1950's and shot somewhat up of 650 rolls of film documenting America.  The book of these photos, "The Americans," was first published in France in 1958, and then in America in 1959.  His travels revealed a beneath the surface look at the country.  With a very casual shooting style, he captured shots in Americana locales like diners, parks, and gas stations that suggest feelings of desolation, apprehension, and alienation.  Frank was initially optimistic of American life, but as he traveled deeper into the country, became a skeptic of the dreamy US idealism.  He identified the obsession with money in the country as the source of dissatisfaction, and you could see this in his photography.  Jack Kerouac contributed the introduction to the book after they met in 1957.

Robert Frank - Ranch market / Hollywood - 1955