Robert Frank, photographer of The Americans, dies at 94

Robert Frank, a documentary photographer who captured life in his book The Americans, has died at 94.

Frank was born in Switzerland before heading to New York at age 23 to pursue an artistic career. He died Monday in Inverness, Nova Scotia, The New York Times reported via Peter MacGill of the Pace/MacGill Gallery.

Frank's best-known work is The Americans, a collection of black and white snapshots he captured on road trips across the country. They were thought to be "an indictment of American society" and its "drive for conformity" that Frank "detested," the Times writes. First published as a book in France and then as a caption-free collection in its namesake country, The Americans encompassed everything from "segregation south of the Mason-Dixon line" to "alienation on the assembly line," a 2008 Vanity Fair profile of Frank wrote.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Frank went on to craft the avant-garde film Pull My Daisy with Jack Kerouac, and created feature-length films with other independent makers. He also worked for a variety of magazines, including Harper's Bazaar, Life, and Vogue. Read more about Frank's life at The New York Times.