Issued in a pack of five copies, Robert Frank: Books and Films, 1947–2016 (a special edition of the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, following its original design and format) is the unconventional catalogue to a traveling retrospective exhibition, recently shown at New York University, featuring interviews, essays, letters and opinion pieces alongside rich picture sequences printed on newsprint.
The exhibition presents six decades of books and films made by Robert Frank (born 1924) against the background of his iconic photographs. These images are shown in an immediate and straightforward way--printed on nearly 10-foot sheets of newsprint and installed unframed on the wall--and contextualized with information about Frank’s life, his working processes and broader cultural history.
Robert Frank: Books and Films, 1947–2016 recreates the raw, innovative approach of the exhibition in an unpretentious and accessible printed object. Frank himself summarizes the appeal of the “catalogue”: “Cheap, quick and dirty, that’s how I like it!”