The Andrea Frank Foundation (AFF), a New York–based organization founded by late photographer Robert Frank, announced it has pledged $1 million to the establish an endowment for the photography-focused nonprofit Aperture.
The endowment will be dedicated to supporting Aperture’s publications program, which is known for producing important monographs of photographers, and is a first for the organization. As part of the initiative, AFF and Aperture will co-producing a new edition of Frank’s seminal photography book, The Americans, first published in 1958. Using scans made from a complete set of Frank’s original prints, the new book is set to be published in 2024, timed to the centennial of the photographer’s birth.
The Americans is considered one of the most influential projects of American documentary photography deriving from the postwar era. The Swiss-born photographer, Frank, produced it during a cross-country road trip in the U.S., funded by a Guggenheim Fellowship. Shot from Long Beach to New Orleans to Montana, Frank’s black-and-white images comprise views of onlookers from moving vehicles and trains in busy American cities to empty landscapes from rural hotel rooms.
In a joint statement, AFF trustees Alice Attie, Jock Reynolds, and Clark Winter said, “Our decision to support Aperture in such a significant way is a reflection of our confidence in the organization’s enduring impact and leadership in the field, as well as the incredibly high standard of its output globally.”
Sarah Meister, Aperture’s recently appointed executive director, said in a statement, that AFF’s grant is critical to the future of organization’s esteemed publishing program: “It is equally pivotal that the impact of AFF’s support is amplified by challenging the rest of our donor community to match this level of funding.” Through the matching grant program, Aperture will receive the funds as they are matched by the foundation.
In addition to the Aperture grant, the foundation has pledged an additional $1 million to support 14 other arts organizations across the country. Among the recipients are the Brooklyn Rail, the Anthology Film Archives in New York, the Addison Gallery of American Art in Massachusetts, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Ross Museum at Ohio Wesleyan University. Those grants will be put toward exhibitions, fellowships, residencies and educational programming, and publishing initiatives at each institution.