LIVE from NYPL: ROBERT FRANK in conversation with Howard Norman: Beirut
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At 80 Robert Frank, the renowned photographer of The Americans, will make a rare personal appearance and reveal the ideas and work behind his new book, Come Again, a facsimile reprint of a sketch book he had originally made in Beirut during 1991. At that time, Frank was invited to Beirut on a commission to photograph the devastated downtown of the city following the end of the Lebanese civil war. Together with the work of five other photographers, his work was included in a book, Beirut City Centre in 1992. But alongside his work on this commission, he made numerous Polaroids of the destroyed city that he stored in his studio on his return home. Many years later he has reconsidered these images by publishing a previously unseen artist's book that offers insight into the early stages of the artist's experimentation with the Polaroid medium.
This event is co-presented by Steidl and the Culture Project Impact Festival.
About Robert Frank
Robert Frank was born in Zurich, Switzerland and went to the United States in 1947. He is best known for his seminal book The Americans, first published in 1958, which gave rise to a distinct new art form in the photo-book, and his experimental film Pull My Daisy. His other important projects include the book Black White and Things, the book The Lines of My Hand, and the film Cocksucker Blues.
About Howard Norman
Howard Norman has twice been shortlisted for The National Book Award in fiction and is the recipient of the Lannan Award in fiction. He has received a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and three fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. His novels include The Bird Artist, The Museum Guard, and The Hauting of L. His newest novel, Devotion, is published by Houghton Mifflin in Feburary 2007. His memoirs include In Fond Remembrance Of Me and My Famous Evening, which includes a chapter about Robert Frank. Next year Norman will retrace Matsuo Basho's Narrow Road to the Deep North? in Japan for National Geographic.