“Seeing THE AMERICANS in a college bookshop was a stunning, ground-trembling experience for me. Kerouac said, “Robert Frank…he sucked a sad poem right out of America onto film, taking rank among the tragic poets of the world.”Ĭontemporary artist and photographer Ed Ruscha said: It has a 1950’s jazz rhythm to it, and wide-eyed innocence and sadness. Kerouac’s text is a perfect complement to the photographs. Jack Kerouac, the famed Beat Generation poet and novelist wrote the introduction to the first American edition, which came out in 1959, a year after the book was first published in France by Robert Delpire. He even re-cropped many of the photos, usually including more of the image than before. Robert Frank himself supervised every aspect of this new edition, including approving every page that rolled off the presses. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, Robert Frank’s masterpiece still holds up - the selection of photos, and their sequence and pacing is fresh, rich, generous, and stunning.Īnd the new 2008 edition published by Steidl offers perhaps the best printing yet, with all new tri-tone scans of the original prints, printed on top quality paper. This is the photo book that redefined what a photo book could be - personal, poetic, real. Editor’s note: We re-publish this book review from 2008 in memory of Robert Frank, who just died at age 94 on September 9, 2019.
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