This photograph shows Robert Frank's first wife, Mary, sleeping in her chair with her head against the wall while their infant daughter, Andrea, stands in the bottom right corner. The image is set in a darkened dining room splattered with dots of light, peaceful and candid. Robert Frank and Mary Lockspeiser were married in 1950, settling in Manhattan and welcoming two children, Pablo and Andrea. In 1955, when this photo was taken, Robert was venturing across the Unites States with his family photographing images from which his highly influential book “The Americans” would be formed.
Andrea Frank tragically died in a plane crash in 1974, and Frank would also lose his son Pablo in 1994. In the wake of Andrea’s passing, he turned to artistic practice, creating collages and a film titled “Life Dances On” (1980), and he provided artists with awards and grants through the Andrea Frank Foundation.
Robert, who photographed the daily lives of Americans, invites us into his own life through this image. As he says, “There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment,” and Robert shares a human moment with his young family.
