Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, Expanded Edition,   ISBN:9783865218063

Customer Rating: 

Ms Greenough has outdone herself in creating the most thorough, broadest, and deepest attempt to analyze a single work of art. This book sets a new standard for what a similarly intended book can be, not just for one work by one artist, but books about a single artist, a group, or a genre of art.

There are several brilliant critical books on any number of artists now. But this one, even at full price, has arguably the best price-performance ratio of any. This book is a steal, hands down.

Including all of the plates and all of the contact sheets for each plate in "Americans" is a curious photographer's dream, never realized, to this reviewer's knowledge, until this book.

The publisher, Steidl, deserves, too, high praise for taking on this tome and for the quality of so many of its recent publications on Frank, Leiter, and so many others. Steidl is currently among the top very few highest quality publishers of significant photography.

Customer Rating: 

By consensus Frank's The Americans is perhaps the most important photo book of the last half century even though those who don't have a clear sense of what was available before and after may not fully understand why. Indeed, his style (in its most generic sense) has become so mainstream or at least popular that his book seems quite tame, almost banal. Looking In (and the exhibit it references) is essential for understanding the context and influence of the Frank book. In the first instance it makes clear why so many of the photos in the Frank book are important and ultimately unsettling. There are lucid discussions of his choices in making, developing, and presenting the photos. It also provides a nice set of essays tracing Frank's career and the various journeys he took while making the photos. Essays on the folks who influenced him (especially Walker Evans) are quite illuminating. The volume also contains many of the pictures he took before The Americans, a bonus, as well as all those in The Americans. Thus for those who do not own the original book,this volume contains the original at relatively little extra cost (maybe $10) (but in a much larger and heavier format). The hardcover edition contains some extra material, mostly as I recall contact prints which allow comparisons of versions chosen for the book with similar ones not. For my purposes the paperback version contains the essential material and is much cheaper. The actual exhibit (which I saw in San Francisco and is now in NYC) did a nice job of explaining the sequencing of the photos (Frank was obsessed with this) and providing some insights into why certain photos are important. The exhibit notes were more focused that those in Looking In and I found the exhibit notes more helpful. However, bottom line is that this is essential reading (and looking) for anyone with more than a passing interest in modern photography, especially those who cannot see the exhibit.

Customer Rating: 

This book is big, maybe even too big. A door stop and then some. But fortunately it's filled with lots of Robert Frank imagery so who can complain. I still like having the original format version of The Americans to get a real sense of how it was meant to be, but this is a good compliment to the original.

Customer Rating: 

Frank's vintage contact sheets allows to see a lot of unseen pictures.
Really good stuff !

Customer Rating: 

This is a wonderful publication that reveals the essence of who Robert Frank, one of the world's greatest photographers, is. From the excellent essays at the beginning of the book to his detailed contact sheets at the end, this book carefully chronicles some of the most important works of this artistic genius. As one goes through the book repeatedly, new insights and understanding of Robert Frank and his work continue to be revealed. It combines academic and aesthetic value as do few other books on photography. It is quite a tome but a great buy at the price offered online.