The Americans

• 

• Publisher: Steidl/National Gallery of Art, Washington
• Publication Date: May 15, 2008
• Condition: New

• Price: $19.95

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Product Description

• Product Description

  In 1958, the first edition of Robert Frank's The Americans was published in Paris. Les Américains contained Frank's 83 photographs in the same sequence as all subsequent editions, with the image on the right hand page, but juxtaposed with historical texts about American society and politics, gathered by Alain Bosquet. The following year, in the first American edition, the French texts were removed and an introduction by Jack Kerouac was added. Over the subsequent 50 years, The Americans has been republished in many editions, in numerous languages, with a variety of cover designs, and even in a range of sizes. It is the most famous photography book ever published, and it changed the face of the medium forever.
  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 for 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.

• Amazon.com Review

  Armed with a camera and a fresh cache of film and bankrolled by a Guggenheim Foundation grant, Robert Frank crisscrossed the United States during 1955 and 1956. The photographs he brought back form a portrait of the country at the time and hint at its future. He saw the hope of the future in the faces of a couple at city hall in Reno, Nevada, and the despair of the present in a grimy roofscape. He saw the roiling racial tension, glamour, and beauty, and, perhaps because Frank himself was on the road, he was particularly attuned to Americans' love for cars. Funeral-goers lean against a shiny sedan, lovers kiss on a beach blanket in front of their parked car, young boys perch in the back seat at a drive-in movie. A sports car under a drop cloth is framed by two California palm trees; on the next page, a blanket is draped over a car accident victim's body in Arizona.

  Robert Frank's Americans reappear 40 years after they were initially published in this exquisite volume by Scalo. Each photograph (there are more than 80 of them) stands alone on a page, while the caption information is included at the back of the book, allowing viewers an unfettered look at the images. Jack Kerouac's original introduction, commissioned when the photographer showed the writer his work while sitting on a sidewalk one night outside of a party, provides the only accompanying text. Kerouac's words add narrative dimension to Frank's imagery while in turn the photographs themselves perfectly illustrate the writer's own work.

Customer Reviews

• April 30, 2010Terrific Package

  Somethings just go together. Peanutbutter and jelly. Knotty pine paneling in a fishing-lake bar. Bouffants on R&B singers. And Jack Kerouac's introduction to 83 stark b/w photos ("lugubrious" Jack might say) shot by Robert Frank in 1955 / 1956 as he traveled the lower 48, funded by a Guggenheim Foundation grant. The book: The Americans is a terrific arty, documentary commentary on mid-20th-century America.
  
  I would have said the book is worth having for the Kerouac introduction alone--because it is so good....so....so Kerouac--until I reverently turned the pages, which is what one should do when viewing a collection of photos, drawings, or art and was delighted to remain in the desperate, yearnful, plain-is-the-new-god mood that Kerouac had expertly created in his introduction. Frank's photos capture the everyday in all of its beauty. Many of the photos look like rejects from the envelope of prints eagerly picked up from the 1950's or 1960's photo lab where you have spinster Aunt Millie asking why did you waste film on this--they're not even looking at the camera, or it's a bunch of people at a funeral, or it's a road at night.
  
  Get this book.

• February 13, 2010A timeless accomplishment

  What can I say that hasn't already been said about "The Americans"? The coffin / jukebox quote and the page with the nanny are just the beginning. I recently reviewed Sawdust Mountain by Eirik Johnson Eirik Johnson: Sawdust Mountain and as I reviewed that I realized that many of today's best photographers owe a debt to Robert Frank. Buy this book and you'll see Franks' artistic descendants all over the place.

• February 12, 2010A Book Worth Having

  Robert Frank's book "The Americans" presents a stunningly visual portrayal of the 1950's culture and the times we lived in. Frank's photographs brought back strong memories of people and places I remember. I saw his anniversary exhibit in New York and felt the book really captured his photographs. These are strong pictures, ones you'll remember. I recommend this book to all--not just photography lovers, but to anyone who wants to see a slice of American life gone by.

• November 17, 2009America Post WWII

  This collection of photos didn't attract much attention when first published. Some believed race issues were a problem. Don't think so. I graduated from college during this period. The photos then would have been ordinary scenes in black and white during a period when most photos were color. The collection captures the time nicely. One of the photos is misidentified as to place. Several others have explanations different from my assessment. It isn't about the narrative and black and white makes the subjects stand out. There is a newspaper stand in one of the photos. Who is on the cover of Look?

• October 29, 2009America in the 1950s

  Robert Frank's pictures of America in the 1950s are comparable in depth and perceptiveness to Dorothea Lange's pictures of the 1930s. They are in black and white and call you back to look at them again and again. Composition is excellent. I had not heard of Robert Frank until recently. His photographic work, however, is excellent.