Seen: Robert Frank Retrospective: On The Road
Who: Robert Frank
Where: Gallery Bauhaus
When: July 1- September 19, 2020 (open Tue-Sat. 11am-7pm, 800 yen entrance fee)
The Robert Frank retrospective at Gallery Bauhaus in Tokyo is amazing.
Titled “On The Road”, this is the first of two long shows that will be up at Bauhaus until late 2020. From what I understand, this incredible Robert Frank print collection is courtesy of Kazuhiko Motomura, publisher of Frank’s “Lines Of My Hand”. They’ve had these photos on display before but with Robert Frank, too much of a good thing is never enough.
The images on display- all proper silver gelatin prints- cover from the late 40s to 1979. The show features many outstanding 16x20s from The Americans as well as enlargements of Frank’s contact sheets from the series.
Photographs depend in part on the emotions of the viewer- and I don’t know anyone who couldn’t be moved by Robert Frank’s pictures. As I looked at the photographs on the wall I was trying to figure out what exactly it was I was feeling- awe, certainly. But there was something more that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
Then it hit me– this sensation was … humility.
To be surrounded, in person, by such powerful, beautiful work- including several particular images that have long composed the bedrock for my own photographic understanding- well, it’s a truly humbling experience. Maybe it’s the kind of thing that others get from great music or religious experiences.
The 800 yen entrance fee is well worth the experience.
Speaking of music- for background sound they had a Bob Dylan album on. Unless they did this the last two times I saw Frank’s prints here, today was the first time I’d ever heard a Bob Dylan song. It fit the work pretty well.