Awakening the Eye: Robert Frank’s American Cinema

243 Pages·2015·9.973 MB·English

by  George Kouvaros

AWAKENING THE EYE
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AWAKENING
THE EYE
ROBERT FRANK’S
AMERICAN CINEMA
GEORGE KOUVAROS
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
Parts of chapter 1 were previously published as “ ‘Time and How to Note It Down’:
The Lessons of Pull My Daisy,” Screen 53, no. 1 (Spring 2012): 1–1 7. A slightly shorter
version of chapter 2 was previously published as “He’s Not There: Robert Frank’s
Me and My Brother,” Screening the Past, no. 29 (2010).
Copyright 2015 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechan-
ical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the publisher.
Published by the University of Minnesota Press
111 Third Avenue South, Suite 290
Minneapolis, MN 55401-2 520
http://www.upress.umn.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kouvaros, George.
Awakening the eye: Robert Frank’s American cinema / George Kouvaros.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8166-9556-0 (hc)
ISBN 978-0-8166-9559-1 (pb)
1. Frank, Robert, b. 1924 — Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.
PN1998.3.F7325K68 2015
791.4302'33092—dc23 2014043032
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper
The University of Minnesota is an equal- opportunity educator and employer.
21 20 19 18 17 16 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction: Awakening the Eye 1
1 “Time and How to Note It Down” 31
Pull My Daisy
2 He’s Not There 61
Me and My Brother, One Hour
3 “A Better Way to Live” 91
Conversations in Vermont, Liferaft Earth, About Me:
A Musical, Cocksucker Blues
4 “The Fire of Pain” 121
Life Dances On . . . , Home Improvements, The Present
5 Fragments Shored against My Ruins 153
Moving Pictures, True Story
Coda: The Circle 185
Paper Route
Notes 199
Index 215
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
An Australian Research Council Discovery Grant helped fund the re-
search and writing of this book. The bulk of the research occurred at
the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where I was able to view the films
and videos that comprise the Robert Frank Collection. The hospitality
provided by the MFAH was extraordinary. In particular, I thank curator
of film and video Marian Luntz and her colleagues in the Film Depart-
ment, assistant curator Tracy Stephenson, and community outreach
and administration assistant Ray Gomez. Their dedication, profes-
sionalism, and kindness over the course of a number of extended visits
made the period of research an absolute delight. For me this book will
always be linked to the friendships formed at the MFAH.
Securing permission to reproduce photographs and images would
not have been possible without the support of Lauren Panzo, director
at Pace/MacGill Gallery in New York. I am deeply indebted to Lauren
for graciously responding to my numerous requests and bringing the
project to Robert Frank’s attention. A great deal of what I learned
about Frank’s working methods came from time spent with his editor,
Laura Israel, who also provided me with copies of the films and videos
and helped arrange the production of stills. She did this while juggling
numerous professional commitments as well as completing the pro-
duction of her documentary on Frank’s career.
During the course of the research, I was fortunate to have a number
of conversations with two experts on Frank’s career: Sarah Greenough,
senior curator and head of the Department of Photographs at the Na-
tional Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., and Anne Wilkes Tucker,
cura tor of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Their
writings on Frank’s photographs were invaluable in shaping my own
◆ vii
understanding. At the University of New South Wales, colleagues John
Golder, Maija Howe, Michelle Langford, Sean Pryor, and Melanie Rob-
son provided useful feedback on the manuscript. Thanks also go to
Paul Pavlou for assistance with the reproduction of images.
This is my third publication with the University of Minnesota Press.
Former executive editor Richard Morrison played an important role
in bringing each of the books to fruition. Humanities editor Danielle
Kasprzak took over this project at a crucial time. Her commitment to
the project was a major factor in its completion. As with each and every
publication, it is to the members of my family that I owe the greatest
debt. Their patience, support, and love are essential. Finally, I thank
Robert Frank for granting permission to reproduce the images that
appear in this book.
viii ◆ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Introduction
AWAKENING THE EYE
The 1989 edition of Robert Frank’s autobiographical photobook The
Lines of My Hand begins with a collage composed of two strips of film
placed side by side (see Plate 1). At the center of each of the film frames
is a large eye superimposed on a coastal scene. The reflection of a small
rectangular object passes across and, at times, obscures our view of the
eye. In the left- side strip, we can see the outline of a dog gazing along
the coastline. The superimposition of the eye on the coastal landscape
recalls Dziga Vertov’s famous image of the camera- eye in his 1929 film
Man with a Movie Camera. By combining an image of a human eye
with a close- up of a camera lens, Vertov constructs a rendition of the
central principle of his filmmaking practice: the movie camera’s ability
to supersede the capacities of natural perception. Vertov’s exploration
of the capacities of the camera- eye culminated with the formulation
of a new model for documentary filmmaking: “Kino- eye = kino- seeing
(I see through the camera) + kino- writing (I write on film with the
camera) + kino- organization (I edit). The kino- eye method is the sci-
entifically experimental method of exploring the visible world.”1
Frank’s collage acknowledges the legacy of Vertov’s pioneering for-
mulation. It too speaks of a desire to establish new ways of seeing and
writing through the camera. But whereas Vertov’s championing of the
camera- eye is framed in trenchant opposition to humanist principles,
Frank’s superimposition of the eye onto the coastal scene draws inspi-
ration from a Romantic tradition that positions the external world as a
mirror for inner processes. This interaction of inner and outer worlds
is affirmed in the accompanying text:
◆ 1