1924
Born on November 9 in Zurich, Switzerland.

1941 – 1942
Apprenticeship with the photographer and graphic designer Hermann Segesser in Zurich.

1944
Assistant to Victor Bouverat in Geneva.

1946
Makes his first book 40 Fotos with 40 original photographs.

1947
Emigrates to New York. Hired for Harper’s Bazaar by Alexey Brodovitch.

1948
Travels to Peru and Bolivia.

1949
Travels to Europe (France, Italy, Switzerland and Spain).

1950
Marries Mary Lockspeiser.

1951
Son Pablo is born in New York.
Travels to Paris and to London where he photographs bankers.

1952
Travels to Spain and produces photographic essay in Valencia about bullfighters.
Gives up fashion photography and works as a photojournalist. Makes book, Black White and Things (three hand made copies).

1953
Photographs the miner Ben James in Caerau, Wales.
22 works included in Post-War European Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

1954
Daughter Andrea is born in New York.

1955 - 56
Awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship to travel across the United States.

1958
Robert Delpire publishes Les Americains in Paris, Grove Press later publishes The Americans in the United States in 1959.

1959
Co–directs Pull My Daisy with Alfred Leslie.

1961
First one-man exhibition, Robert Frank: Photographer, Art Institute Chicago.

1962
Exhibition at Museum of Modern Art, New York, curated by Edward Steichen.

1964
Works and travels as a cameraman for Conrad Rook’s movie Chappaqua to Mexico, India, Sri Lanka, England, Jamaica and America.

1965
Begins work on his first feature, Me and My Brother, which is finished in 1968.

1970
Buys a house in Mabou, Nova Scotia, with artist June Leaf.

1972
The Rolling Stones commission the film Cocksucker Blues, documenting their American tour.

1974
Daughter Andrea dies in a plane crash in Guatemala on December 28th.

1975
Marries June Leaf.

1976
Begins to use a Polaroid camera and makes collages with text from negatives.

1990
The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. founds the Robert Frank Collection. Frank donates negatives, contact sheets, work and exhibition prints.

1994
Son Pablo dies November 12 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

1995
Founding of Andrea Frank Foundation in New York.

1996
Receives the international Photography Award, Hasselblad Foundation, Goteborg.

2000
Receives the Cornell Capa Award form the International Center of Photography in New York.