Book Review, R Frank, The Americans

Once you start reading about photography it will not be very long before you find mention of The Americans or Les Americains by Robert Frank, a generally pervasive influence on photographers since its first publication back in 1958. Described by some as possibly "the most important single effort in photography of the 20th century"! First editions of this book are now seen as collectors items and can go for 3 figure sums. The version I have is a more recent (and cheaper) one, published during 2008 in hardback by Steidl, ISBN:9783865215840.


In addition to Amazon, Abebooks is a good place to locate this book or try specialist book sellers such as Beyond Words.

The concept of the book is very simple, Robert Frank, while on a Guggenheim Fellowship, traveled on the road around 48 states of the USA in an old car during 1955 and 1956 and photographed what he saw.

When The Americans was first published in 1958 it featured 83 of Frank’s photographs, accompanied by writings in French about American political and social history. This Delpire’s Les Américains formed part of the Encyclopédie essentielle series, which presented foreign countries to a French audience. Each of Frank’s photographs in this edition is placed on a right-hand page, with the texts on the left-hand pages.

The first English edition of The Americans was published in 1959 by Grove Press in New York. It presented the same photographs, however a text by Jack Kerouac replaced the French writings. The book begins with Kerouac’s introduction, followed by Frank’s photographs in the same sequence as the Delpire edition. On the left-hand pages are short captions from Frank, which describe the location.

This is the format the Steidl edition takes, after the introduction the only text is the title that accompanies each image.

It is hard to single out specific images when there are so many that could be commended, but to try, for example "Movie Premiere - Hollywood":

This is an image singled out in Train Your Gaze because of its unusual use of focus, with foreground blurry and the viewers in the background sharp.

In reviewing my recent assignment my tutor drew some parallels in the use of a stone block background with the Frank image, "Jehovah's Witness - Los Angeles" (Hint: the blocks are thought to make the shape of a cross):

And my image:

From OCA P and P Assignment 1

And one of my personal favorites is "Navy Recruiting Station, Post Office - Butte, Montana":

Read more about Frank on http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/01/theory-robert-franks-america.html

I seem to be drawn to the photography of the 1950s, to follow I will also review books featuring the photographs of O Winston Link and W Eugene Smith.