Fraenkel Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in San Francisco founded by Jeffrey Fraenkel in 1979. It focuses on photography and its relation to other arts through history. The gallery is also a publisher of books and posters.
History Jeffrey Fraenkel opened Fraenkel Gallery on 11 September 1979 at 55 Grant Avenue, San Francisco. Frish Brandt joined Fraenkel Gallery in 1985, and became a partner in 1989. She served as President for eight years, and in 2023, she transitioned to President Emerita. Daphne Palmer joined the gallery in 2013 and was appointed President in 2024.
Fraenkel Gallery’s inaugural exhibition featured 19th-century photographs of California by Carleton Watkins. In the gallery’s first decade, it brought new attention to under-recognized photographs by seldom-exhibited 19th-century artists including Watkins, Timothy O’Sullivan, Anna Atkins, and Eadweard Muybridge. Fraenkel Gallery’s second exhibition featured Lee Friedlander, and the gallery soon began showing work by other significant 20th-century artists, including Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Helen Levitt, Diane Arbus, Robert Adams, Garry Winogrand, and Bruce Conner.
Two years after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Fraenkel Gallery moved to a larger space at 49 Geary Street, one block from their first location. The gallery expanded the range of artworks and media featured in exhibitions and books, and presented solo shows by artists including Nan Goldin, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Sophie Calle, Richard Avedon, Sol LeWitt, Gilbert & George, Jay DeFeo, and Bernd and Hilla Becher, as well as group shows encompassing sculpture, drawing, and mixed media.
In the 2000s, Fraenkel Gallery began to feature more artists working outside of photography, and exhibitions during this decade included Edward Hopper & Company, Nothing and Everything: Painting, Photography, Drawing & Sculpture 1896–2006, and Not Exactly Photographs. The gallery also added Katy Grannan, Peter Hujar, Christian Marclay, and Ralph Eugene Meatyard to its roster, and began participating in international art fairs including Art Basel and Paris Photo.
In the 2010s, Fraenkel Gallery exhibited an increasingly wider swath of multi-disciplinary work, as well as video, sculpture, paintings, film posters, and record albums. The gallery added younger artists to its roster, including Alec Soth, Richard T. Walker, Wardell Milan, Elisheva Biernoff, and Richard Learoyd, as well as those working in a range of media, such as Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller and Mel Bochner. The satellite space FraenkelLAB, at 1632 Market Street in San Francisco, ran from 2016 through 2017 with a diverse and experimental program. The inaugural exhibition, Home Improvements, was curated by John Waters, and subsequent exhibitions included the work of Richard T. Waker, David Benjamin Sherry, Sophie Calle, Katy Grannan, Alec Soth and others.
Since 2020, the gallery’s roster has grown to include Liz Deschenes, Kota Ezawa, Martine Gutierrez, and Carrie Mae Weems, who have been featured in solo exhibitions along with shows by longtime gallery artists Robert Adams, Bernd & Hilla Becher, Nan Goldin, Richard Misrach, Hiroshi Sugimoto and others. The program has presented exhibitions curated by artists from various disciplines, including Carrie Mae Weems’s selection of photographs by Diane Arbus, Sir Elton John’s take on Peter Hujar, and film director Joel Coen’s view of Lee Friedlander.
Artists or their estates represented by Fraenkel Gallery
Publications (selected)
Photography in Spain in the Nineteenth Century. Text by Lee Fontanella. San Francisco and London: Fraenkel and Delahunty Gallery, 1983 The Insistent Object: Photographs of 1845-1986. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1987 Carleton E. Watkins: Photographs 1861-1874. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1989 The Kiss of Apollo: Photography and Sculpture—1845 to the Present. Essay by Eugenia Parry Janis. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1991 Bill Dane’s History of the Universe. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1992 Henry Wessel: House Pictures. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1992 Under the Sun: Photographs by Christopher Bucklow, Susan Derges, Garry Fabian-Miller, and Adam Fuss. Essay by David Alan Melor. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1996 Open Secrets: Seventy Pictures on Paper 1815 to the Present. San Francisco: Fraenkel; Matthew Marks Gallery, 1997 () Dust Breeding: Photographs, Sculpture & Film. Introduction by Steve Wolfe. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1998 David Smith: Photographs 1931-1965. Introduction by Rosalind E. Krauss, essay by Joan Pachner. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Matthew Marks, 1998 Lee Friedlander: Self Portrait. Afterword by John Szarkowski. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and D.A.P., 1998 San Francisco Album: George Robinson Fardon—Photographs 1854-1856. Essays by Peter E. Palmquist, Rodger C. Birt, and Joan M. Schwartz. Catalogue Raisonné by Marvin Nathan. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Hans P. Kraus Jr., 1999 The Man in the Crowd. The Uneasy Streets of Garry Winogrand. Introduction by Fran Lebowitz, essay by Ben Lifson. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and D.A.P., 1999 Susan Derges: Woman Thinking River. Introduction by Mark Haworth-Booth, essay by Charlotte Cotton. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Danziger, 1999 California: Views by Robert Adams of the Los Angeles Basin, 1978-1983. Afterword by Robert Hass. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Matthew Marks, 2000 Lee Friedlander. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2000 Lee Friedlander: The Little Screens. Introduction by Walker Evans. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2001 Richard Avedon: Made in France. Essay by Judith Thurman. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2001 Lee Friedlander: Kitaj. Introduction by Maria Friedlander, with postscript by R.B. Kitaj. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2002 Diane Arbus: The Libraries. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2004 Lee Friedlander: Family. Introduction by Maria Friedlander. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2004 Lee Friedlander: Sticks and Stones. Essay by James Enyeart. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and D.A.P., 2004 Peter Hujar: Night. Essay by Bob Nickas. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Matthew Marks, 2005 Robert Adams: Turning Back. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Matthew Marks, 2005 Lee Friedlander: Apples and Olives. San Francisco and Göteborg: Fraenkel and Hasselblad Center, 2005 Richard Misrach: Chronologies. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2005 Lee Friedlander: Cherry Blossom Time in Japan. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2006 Eye of the Beholder: Photographs from the Collection of Richard Avedon. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2006 Nothing and Everything. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Peter Freeman, Inc., 2006 The Book of Shadows. San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2007 () Katy Grannan: The Westerners. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery and Salon 94 Freemans, 2007 73 Photographs from David and Mary Robinson at the National Gallery of Art. Essays by David Robinson and Sarah Greenough, with an afterword by Jeffrey Fraenkel. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2007 Christian Marclay: Stereo. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2008 Edward Hopper & Company, San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2009 () Nicholas Nixon: Live Love Look Last. San Francisco, New York and Göttingen: Fraenkel, Pace/MacGill Gallery and Steidl, 2009 Lee Friedlander: America by Car. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and D.A.P., 2010 Mel Bochner: Photographs and Not Photographs. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2010 Katy Grannan: Boulevard. San Francisco & New York: Fraenkel Gallery & Salon 94, 2011 () Lee Friedlander: The New Cars 1964. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2011 Richard Learoyd: Presences. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2011 Robert Adams: Prairie. Essay by Eric Paddock. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2011 Lee Friedlander: Mannequin. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2012 Robert Adams: Light Balances & On Any Given Day in Spring. Text by Robert Adams. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Matthew Marks, 2012 The Unphotographable. Edited by Jeffrey Fraenkel. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2013. Christian Marclay: Things I’ve Heard. Interview with Christian Marclay. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Paula Cooper Gallery, 2013 Richard Misrach: 1.21.11 5:40pm. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2013 Peter Hujar: Love & Lust. Interview with Fran Lebowitz and essay by Vince Aletti. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2014 Katy Grannan: The Ninety Nine and The Nine. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel and Salon 94, 2014 John Gossage: Who Do You Love. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2014 Robert Adams: A Road Through Shore Pine. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2014 Nicholas Nixon: About Forty Years. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2015 Silent Dialogues: Diane Arbus & Howard Nemerov. Text by Alexander Nemerov. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2015 Robert Adams: Around the House. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2016 Ralph Eugene Meatyard: American Mystic. Text by Alexander Nemerov. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2017 Elisheva Biernoff. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2017 Robert Adams: Tenancy. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2017 Art & Vinyl. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2018 Robert Adams: 27 Roads. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2018 Lee Friedlander: SIGNS. San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2019 () Richard Learoyd. Madrid and San Francisco: Fundacíon MAPFRE & Fraenkel Gallery, 2019 Robert Adams: Standing Still. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2020 Robert Adams: A Parallel World. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2020 Elisheva Biernoff: Starting From Wrong. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2021 Diane Arbus: Documents. Edited by Max Rosenberg. Foreword by Jeffrey Fraenkel and Lucas Zwirner. San Francisco and New York: Fraenkel Gallery & David Zwirner Books, 2022 Robert Adams: Sea Stone. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2022 Peter Hujar Curated by Elton John. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2022 Lee Friedlander Framed by Joel Coen. Introduction by Joel Coen, Afterword by Frances McDormand. San Francisco: Fraenkel 2023
Anniversary publications Seeing Things. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1995. . Published to coincide with the gallery's fifteenth anniversary. 20Twenty. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 1999. . Published to coincide with the gallery's twentieth anniversary. The Eye Club. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2003. . Edited by Jeffrey Fraenkel. Text by Jeffrey Fraenkel and Frish Brandt. Published to coincide with the gallery's twenty fifth anniversary. Furthermore. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2009. . Published to coincide with the gallery's thirtieth anniversary. The Plot Thickens. San Francisco: Fraenkel, 2014. . Edited and with an introduction by Jeffrey Fraenkel. Published to coincide with the gallery's thirty fifth anniversary. Long Story Short, San Francisco, Fraenkel Gallery, 2019 (). Edited by Jeffrey Fraenkel and Frish Brandt. Published to coincide with the gallery's fortieth anniversary.
See also The McLoughlin Gallery was also at 49 Geary Street
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External links