Photographer Robert Frank, one of the most pivotal figures in history, has passed away at the age of 94. Frank's 1958 book The Americans redefined what a photograph could mean and is arguably the most influential photo book of all time. Your favorite photographer's favorite photographer. Frank has inspired generations and continued to photograph, make films and publish books until his death.

Frank first began to study photography in 1941, working as a commercial photographer in Basel, Zurich, and Geneva. In 1947, he traveled to the U.S. where he was hired to shoot fashion photography for Harper's Bazaar before resigning in frustration at the limitations of fashion work just a few months later. Between 1950 and 1955, Frank worked as a freelance photojournalist, shooting street photographs that began to attract the attention of Edward Steichen, Willem de Kooning, Walker Evans, Franz Kline, and other important figures in the New York art world. A Guggenheim Fellowship allowed him to travel around the country in 1955 and 1966, producing images that would become The Americans. Following its publication, he began to concentrate on making films, including Pull My Daisy, written and narrated by Jack Kerouac and starring Allen Ginsberg, and his most famous, Cocksucker Blues, a controversial documentary on the Rolling Stones. Frank continued to photograph and produce work well into his nineties, publishing an acclaimed series of visual diaries between 2010-17 and most recently, good days Quiet, in April of this year.

RIP Robert Frank, a master of the craft.