Photography After Frank: Book Party and Signing with Author Philip Gefter

Join writer on photography, Philip Gefter in celebration of his recently released and highly anticipated new book of essays Photography After Frank (Aperture, June 2009) which collectively tells the story of contemporary photography, starting with a pivotal moment: Robert Frank’s seminal work in the 1950s, The Americans. Along the way, Gefter connects the dots of photography’s transformation into what it is today from Robert Frank’s challenge to photography’s formal objectivity with the grainy, off-handed spontaneity of The Americans to the evolution of documentary photography to the “staged document,” photojournalism, portraiture, the influence of collectors, and the market’s effect on art-making, such as the spawning of super-sized prints. Throughout the book, Gefter deftly connects Frank’s legacy with the work of dozens of important artists who have followed in his wake, from Lee Friedlander and Nan Goldin to Stephen Shore and Ryan McGinley. The book includes texts written exclusively for this publication, as well as essays drawn from Gefter’s critical writings, reviews, and even obituaries for the New York Times and other publications. Philip Gefter was on staff at the New York Times for more than fifteen years where his roles included page one picture editor and senior picture editor for culture. Early in his career, he was a picture editor at Fortune and GEO, and an assistant editor at Aperture. He writes regularly about photography for the Times and other publications. He is a founding member of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.