Ute Eskildsen: When you were planning to leave Switzerland, did you think about London or Paris? Or was America always your goal?
Robert Frank: No, first it was Paris. I had a cousin there. I had connections, and I spoke French. Going to London would have meant learning English. In Paris I worked for myself. Good, I tried to get a job, but I didn't work.
Ute Eskildsen: At the same time you were in Paris, a lot of artists were living there - writers, painters and photographers. Christer Strömholm and Ed van der Elsken worked in Paris and found their themes there.
Robert Frank: That was the idea of Paris. To work in Paris. And I tried it twice. A first time and then a second time when I had the idea of swapping studios with a chinese friend: I took this studio in Paris and worked there. But it was difficult to earn money in Paris.
Ute Eskildsen: Does that mean that Paris was more of a closed society?
Robert Frank: Yes, quite the opposite of America.
Conversation ayant eu lieu à New York, le 30 janvier 2008, publiée dans son intégralité ici.
