Robert Frank: The 50 Year Anniversary of the Book The Americans

Robert Frank. If you are not yet aware of his influential book of photos titled The Americans, here is an invitation to discover it. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, this book is a true cornerstone of its type with its sequence of 80 photographs. We attended the exhibition held in Washington to view the photos of this book. We also attended the 1994 exhibit titled “Moving Out.” We spent 7 hours there (they had to kick us out…) It was moving and enthralling. We were accompanied by photographer Michel Campeau (who had just received the Jean-Paul-Riopelle grant for his career’s work) and photographer Serge Clément (who had just published a series in Europe.) The exhibit was not only viewed by us for several hours, but was also discussed for hours afterwards. The Exhibit catalogue is simply magnificent and can be purchased for ~$30 at Amazon. It contains the various sequences of images that led to the final versions published in the book, and demonstrates the reframing of some original images. Vanity Fair covered the Exhibit. It will be presented in New York this summer.

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