Americans

Americans takes its name from Robert Frank’s visionary book of the same name from the 1950s. Published to coincide with an exhibition at the Kunsthalle in Vienna this new book offers a fresh look at America and Americans from the 1940s up to the present day. At a time when America’s endeavours are increasingly coming under critical cross-fire, this book is an important contribution to the discourse. Featuring the work of 13 seminal American photographers the book uses a series of photographs by each of the photographers to look again at the country’s position in the world. Each of the photographers chosen have turned their critical gaze on the problems of their own society : Helen Levitt’s photos of street life in New York’s East Village in the 1950s, Robert Frank’s images of the 1960s Beat Generation, portraits of periphery figures by Diane Arbus, the early work of Lee Friedlander that highlights loneliness in New York, Solomon’s shots of New Orleans in the 1990s, Gordon Parks’ depiction of racial issues and the Mafia and finally two photographers of the youngest generation, Ryan McGinley and Ed Templeton. The pictures in this book do not judge but provoke the viewers into making their own judgement.

Pictures by: Richard Avedon, Lee Friedlander, Peter Hujar, Bruce Davidson, Gordon Parks, Helen Levitt, Ryan McGinley, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus, Larry Clark, Ed Templeton, Rosalind Solomon, Burk Uzzle.