Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans Expanded Edition

Description

First published in France in 1958, then in the United States in 1959, Robert Frank's (American b. Switzerland, 1924) The Americans changed the course of twentieth- century photography. In 83 photographs, Frank looked beneath the surface of American life to reveal a people plagued by racism, ill-served by their politicians and rendered numb by a rapidly expanding culture of consumption.

Drawing on newly examined archival sources, this book provides a fascinating in-depth examination of the making of the photographs and the book's construction, using vintage contact sheets, work prints and letters that literally chart Frank's journey around the country on a Guggenheim grant in 1955– 1956. Curator and editor Sarah Greenough and her colleagues also explore the roots of The Americans in Frank's earlier books, which are abundantly illustrated here, and in books by photographers Walker Evans, Bill Brandt, and others. The original photographs from The Americans are presented in sequence in as near vintage prints as possible. The catalogue concludes with an examination of Frank's later reinterpretations and deconstructions of The Americans, bringing full circle the history of this resounding entry in the annals of photography.

A 2009 New York Times Holiday Gift Guide Selection.

506 pages, 492 photographs (168 tritone, 210 duotone, 114 color). 9 1/2'' x 11 3/4''. Hardcover.

• 506 pages
• 492 photographs (168 tritone, 210 duotone, 114 color)
• Expanded Edition includes reproductions of Robert Frank’s contact sheets for The Americans a comparative sequencing of preliminary and subsequently published editions of the The Americans a map and chronology, and correspondence and archival materials
• 9 1/2'' x 11 3/4''
• Hardcover