Yom Kippur, East River, New York

This picture, of religiously observant Jewish passengers taking the Staten Island ferry on the Day of Atonement that follows the Jewish New Year, appears in Robert Frank’s landmark book The Americans. Frank came to New York from his native Zurich in 1947 and published The Americans a decade later, after extensive travels around the United States. Frank was Jewish, and his father had fled persecution in Germany. The knot of black-clad ferry riders, along with the lone young man in a suit of lighter color and the child—each a possible stand-in for the photographer—face a journey of discovery and reflection that, in 1954, also awaited Frank as he embarked on a lengthy career in photography, books, and film.

Robert Frank died on September 9, 2019 at the age of 94.