Your name: Janelle Holland
Photographers name: Robert Frank
Title of Photograph: “The Americans”: Part One of the Series
Artist Bio:
Education: High School is all that they mentioned.
Upbringing?: He was Jewish, and he was a neutral party when it came to war. Half of his people have been killed as he grew older. He lived in Zurich Switzerland, and was living during the Second World War.
Art experience?: By the age of 18, he was apprenticed by Hermann Segesser in 1942. He later worked for worked for Michael Wolgensinger in Zurich. A well-known photographer taught his mentor, Wolgensinger by the name of Johannes Meiner in Zurich before attending Bauhaus-trained Hans Finsler’s classes at the Zurich School of Commercial Art.
Artistic Background:
Did your artists work in other artistic Mediums (paint, clay etc?)
He left photography to pursue film.
Why is he or she a photographer?
What inspires his/her work?
Due to his love for the Swiss life, Modernism, Reportage, and the Homeland Style. This also makes it easier for him to create his first hand-made books of photographs that he would make in the next six years.
Has your artists encountered any hardships or successes in his or her life that are directly reflected in their work?
He was tired of his Homeland of Switzerland, and he started to travel to different places. He loved going to South America and New York and photographing his people (the Swiss) That’s how the idea of the “Americans” came into effect.
Your image:
Why did you select this image?
I selected this image because I think it shows about how the style was back in the day with modern day things. I like the simple things in life, so why not do a simple picture? A simple picture describes a lot.
I selected this image because I think it shows about how the style was back in the day with modern day things. I like the simple things in life, so why not do a simple picture? A simple picture describes a lot.
How would you describe your photographers style? (in your own words)
Probably modern, because it is very modern. There is a lot of simplicity in this picture, and the angle that he took it from, makes an impact on how pictures were simply shot differently.
After researching the photographer what have you found most interesting about his/her photographic style or image production?
He only likes “his people” in pictures. He kind of was a very “racist” guy, because he only photographed things that he thought was right. A lot of “American” themed things. Maybe because he valued America as soon as he left home.
How are you planning to recreate your photographers image?
Probably with my own house, I have chairs and things that resemble the picture.
What images do you anticipate taking to recreated this image? (i.e. describe the shots you intend to take to reach your final goal)
Most likely, angle shots. I have the same set up as this picture. It should be easy, and just making sure that I have enough lighting. There is kind of a glare on the picture so it shouldn’t be that hard to do.
Quotes:
“It is always the instantaneous reaction to oneself that produces a photograph.”-Robert Frank
“I always say that I don’t want to be sentimental, that the photographs shouldn’t be sentimental, and yet, I am conscious of my sentimentality.” –Robert Frank
