Awakening the Eye

Robert Frank's American Cinema

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by George Kouvaros

Type

Studies

Subject

Director > Robert Frank

Keywords

Robert Frank, experimental

Publishing date

2015

Publisher

University of Minnesota Press

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 232 pages
6 x 8 inches (15 x 20.5 cm)

ISBN

978-0-8166-9559-1

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Book Presentation:
Until now, celebrated photographer Robert Frank’s daring and unconventional work as a filmmaker has not been awarded the critical notice it deserves. In this timely volume, George Kouvaros surveys Frank’s films and videos and places them in the larger context of experimentation in American art and literature since World War II.
Born in 1924, Frank emigrated from Switzerland to the United States in 1947 and quickly made his mark as a photojournalist. A 1955 Guggenheim Foundation fellowship allowed him to travel across the country, photographing aspects of American life that had previously received little attention. The resulting book, The Americans, with an Introduction by Jack Kerouac, is generally considered a landmark in the history of postwar photography. During the same period, Frank befriended other artists and writers, among them Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Gregory Corso, all of whom are featured in his first film, Pull My Daisy, which is narrated by Kerouac. This film set the terms for a new era of experimental filmmaking.
By examining Frank’s films and videos, including Pull My Daisy, Me and My Brother, and Cocksucker Blues, in the framework of his more widely recognized photographic achievements, Kouvaros develops a model of cross-media history in which photography, film, and video are complicit in the search for fresh forms of visual expression. Awakening the Eye is an insightful, compelling, and, at times, moving account of Frank’s determination to forge a personal connection between the circumstances of his life and the media in which he works.

About the Author:
George Kouvaros is senior lecturer in the School of Theatre, Film, and Dance at the University of New South Wales, Australia. 

Press Reviews:
"While showing great assurance in talking about Robert Frank’s still photography, George Kouvaros not only gives the films due consideration on their own terms, but also in the way they reflected Frank’s overall art."—Stephen Brooke, York University

See the publisher website: University of Minnesota Press

See the complete filmography of Robert Frank on the website: IMDB ...