I was inspired to do this post when I received a comment from someone who follows my photography saying that some of my images reminded him of Robert Frank. This was extremely flattering to me after having studied Robert Frank's 'The Americans' while in art school.
I think the 'The Americans' is so interesting because it gives us a more honest look into what America was like in 55-57, other than the glossed over magazine look that we are all as accustomed to seeing.
Some background on 'The Americans':
-In 1955 Robert Frank got a grant from the Guggenheim to come over to America to photograph
-He took road trips over the next 2 years, taking 28,000 photographs, 83 of which made it into 'The Americans'
-In 1957 Frank met Jack Kerouac and he wrote the introduction to the US edition of the book
-It was first published in 1958 in France, following in the US in 1959
-The style of the layout was intended to mirror Walker Evan's 'American Photographs', who was a big influence on his work
-Some of the places these photographs were shown were the National Art Gallery in D.C., the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC
