The overriding arc in The Americans is that the pictures feel as if they were made by a feeling, thinking human, rather than someone trying to make photographs that look like art for the Christie’s auction. There’s a quick mind behind the book’s main equation, which is this: how we see is less important than what is seen. The former are questions for a machine: which lens? Which film? Which speed? The latter includes the most severe and gut-wrenching choices for a dedicated, free-thinking artist.
2 Comments
I love and respect the book and Frank. However, the article reads as though photographers like David Douglas Duncan, Eugene Smith and other had never existed. While Frank certainly ‘plowed new ground’ he also stood on their shoulders, as far as I am concerned.
Ditto to the above comment, and let’s not forget Gordon Parks, as well –
“Harlem Gang Leader,” Life magazine, 1948:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2013/10/slide-show-gordon-parks-the-making-of-an-argument.html#slide_ss_0=12
It is too simplistic to imply that Frank redefined photography when others were doing that style of work before him.
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