The Americans By Robert Frank

Quote

“It produced a book of photographs that laid bare the soul of 1950s America”

Synopsis

Fascinating look at the making, publication and reception of Swiss photographer Robert Frank’s book The Americans which was a view of America and American people after World War 2. His photographs were unique in that they seemed to suggest tension in American culture and wealth over race and class differences. His photographs were also unique because he used  techniques that other photographers didn't use like low lighting and unusual focus. After securing a grant from the John Simon Guggenheim foundation in 1955, Frank embarked on a ninth month odyssey with is family travelling all around the Unites States during post World War 2 documenting that American culture which he believed was spreading all over the continent. Looking on as an outsider he went to New York, South Carolina, Texas, California, Chicago and eventually ended up back in New York. He started in 1956 and the book took over two years to complete finishing in 1958. He had taken over 28,000 shots. When he was finished he met up with French publisher Robert Delpiere and he showed him his selection and they started laying out the book which miraculously took them one day to complete. Frank selected 83 photographs from the amount he took to be published. It was finally published in France the same year he had finished taking photos and it came out in the United States the following year. The reception was very bad and it also had lost money. The critics hated it because they felt it was an unfair portrayal of Americans. But over the years the Americans has become inspirational for later photographers and has become seminal in the work photography and is clearly Frank’s best known work.

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