ROBERT FRANK: The Americans

First published in 1958 by Robert Delpire in Paris, Les Américains was finally published in the U.S. in 1959 by Grove Press, with an introduction by Jack Kerouac. The book was heavily criticized here for the profound expression of a dark and depressing loneliness. The alienation and emptiness captured by Robert Frank, while traveling on a Guggenheim fellowship in '55-'56, marked a turning point in photography, forever.

To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Robert Frank's seminal creation, The National Gallery of Art in D.C. will be exhibiting "Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans" from January 19th - April 26th.



Wikipedia:

"To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the first publication of The Americans, a new edition was released worldwide on May 30, 2008. Robert Frank discussed with his publisher, Gerhard Steidl, the idea of producing a new edition using modern scanning and the finest tritone printing. The starting point was to bring original prints from New York to Göttingen, Germany, where Steidl is based. In July 2007, Frank visited Göttingen. A new format for the book was worked out and new typography selected. A new cover was designed and Frank chose the book cloth, foil embossing and the endpaper. Most significantly, as he has done for every edition of The Americans, Frank changed the cropping of many of the photographs, usually including more information. Two images were changed completely from the original 1958 and 1959 editions."

"Fire In The East: A Portrait of Robert Frank," is a 28 minute documentary from 1986 seen here in three parts:













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