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The Arts Intel Report

Robert Frank: Mary's Book

Robert Frank, spread from Mary’s Book (detail), 1949.

Dec 9–10, 2024
465 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA

In 1949, the 25-year-old photographer Robert Frank set about making a scrapbook for his soon-to-be wife, Mary Lockspeiser. He titled it Mary’s Book. On the first page he wrote a note in ink: “This is for you. It is not much but I promised you a little story. Maybe this is not a story.” What followed were 74 photographs taken in Paris, sometimes accompanied by inscriptions. Counterintuitively, most of the pictures aren’t of Lockspeiser or even of people. They are images of streets, parks, objects, and monuments—locations and things that reminded Frank of his beloved. This exhibition presents spreads from Mary’s Book as well as photographs from that early Paris sojourn. It celebrates the centennial of Frank’s birth. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: © The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation