Free Air : Robert Frank - Hands at Work

Winter’s photographs explore Frank as a sculptor rather than a photographer

From 1973, Robert Frank’s Bleecker Street studio and home was the crucible of his creativity. Yet just as important was the weather-beaten fisherman’s cottage he bought in 1969 with his wife, artist June Leaf, in Mabou, Nova Scotia. Here they spent much of the year working for the following half-century. Frank the photographer is revered for his ability to explore and record the world with unprecedented understanding. Less known are his remarkable sculptures, which he made using found objects, old photographs and the camera itself.
Clark Winter captures the energy of the Cape Breton landscape and documents Frank amid his creative process. Seen throughout are talismans and mementos: faded postcards, trinkets and bric-a-brac, a photo of a younger Leaf and Frank laughing at us from a joyful day. Seen together, Winter’s photographs reveal yet unknown facets of a creative mind ever fearlessly at work.