The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston announced in a statement last week that the institution has acquired a total of 38 photographs by Swiss-American photographer Robert Frank (1924-2019).
The acquisition includes 34 photographs donated by the June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundations, as well as four works purchased with funds donated by former Citibank CEO John Reed and his wife, Cynthia.
These 38 photos were taken by Frank in Paris in 1949. Some of the photos show street scenes, such as children watching a blind street performer and a “circus” tram. Although Frank is primarily known for his influential 1958 book ”
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AmericanThe photographs capturing postwar American society were taken when he returned to Europe after two years in New York.
“We are delighted to bring these important photographs to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,” said Kristen Gresh, Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Added to the museum’s collection, the photographs provide insight into Frank’s career while helping us tell the story of transatlantic artistic connections,” said a statement.
The works are currently on display in the exhibition “Robert Frank: Mary’s Book” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, until June 22, 2025. The exhibition commemorates the personal scrapbook of photographs and writings Frank made for his first wife, Mary Locke Speiser.
Additionally, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston has acquired this photo July 4th, Jay, New York (1954), from The Americans, supported by the Horace W. Goldsmith Photographic Foundation.
Another exhibition of Frank’s work, entitled “Scrapbook Fragments of Robert Frank,” focuses on fragments of Frank’s family, friends and travels from 1970 to 2006, organized into a kind of moving image scrapbook, also The Museum of Modern Art is showing New York art through spring 2025.
