ROBERT FRANK (1924–2019)

This ‘portrait’ of classic American cowboy culture juxtaposed with a gritty New York street is typical of the kind of imagery seen throughout Frank's roadtrip across the States for The Americans. In his introduction to The Americans Jack Kerouac describes, ‘The humor, the sadness, the EVERYTHING-ness and American-ness of these pictures! Tall thin cowboy rolling butt outside Madison Square Garden New York for rodeo season, sad, spindly, unbelievable...’

Throughout The Americans, Frank hones in on the stereotypes and clichés of American identity; this picture aptly pits the legendary cowboy of the West against the teeming metropolis of the East. The result is an icon of 20th century photography.