iEspacio Fundación TelefónicaGran Vía
Robert Frank & The Americans
This exhibition has ended.
The complete 83-image photographic series from Robert Frank's landmark 1958 project documenting inequality, consumerism and racial division in 1950s America.
Museum websiteMore in Madrid
In one photograph, a Black woman in Charleston holds a white baby. In another, a Black shoeshiner polishes a white man's shoes in a public toilet. Frank shot more than 28,000 frames driving across the United States in 1955 and 1956 and kept 83. When the book came out in 1958, critics called it anti-American.
All 83 hang on the fourth floor in the book's exact order, lent by the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris. It is the first time the full set has been shown in Spain. The prints are small, all one size, dimly lit on grey walls, and you walk past them in the order Frank chose. Alongside them are enlarged contact sheets, a map of his route, early editions of the book and a film of Frank talking about his work.
Come ready to look slowly: the hang is sober, with little explanation, so the pictures do the talking. Entry is free, and it closes on 1 November.
Look for
The Charleston photograph
Look for a Black woman holding a white child in her arms, one of the images that showed what the American dream left out.
The shoeshine in the men's room
A Black shoeshiner bends over a white man's shoes in a public toilet.
Funeral, St. Helena, South Carolina (1955)
Frank's pictures of a funeral in South Carolina, one of the 83 hung in his original sequence.
The enlarged contact sheets
Rows of frames from the 28,000 he shot, showing how hard he cut to reach 83.
The route map
A map tracing the cities and places Frank drove through on the trip.
Good for
- Cheap Culture
- Going Solo
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want context on the walls: the hang is sparse and leaves the looking to you.
Also at Espacio Fundación Telefónica
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Image credits
8
- Espacio Fundación TelefónicaLev (Flickr: _lev_), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
- Los Moreno, Art PhotographersCourtesy of Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- Madrid in the Golden Age: Crucible of Destinies and Landing of GeniusesCourtesy of Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- The American Footprint in MadridCourtesy of Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
- Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San FernandoStanislav Kozlovskiy (Ctac), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museo de Historia de MadridLuis García (Zaqarbal), via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museo del RomanticismoPablo Linés / Wikimedia Spain, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Museo Thyssen-BornemiszaLuis García (Zaqarbal), CC BY-SA 3.0