Yesterday I did a pre-walk around Chinatown getting ready for the July 18th Global Photowalk.
A little Dim Sum, some conversation, and a bit of GPS photowork. I know, a slow Sunday.
While downtown, no visit is complete without a walk around some of the available art.
And now at MOCA is an exhibit of the complete set of 83 B&W prints from the ground breaking book The Americans
by Robert Frank.
Oh yeah.
These are vintage prints from the 50’s made by Frank, which comprised every image in the book.
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of it’s publication, MOCA realized that they owned this collection and were able to easily put it out.
Summertime is usually when the museums check into their art larders and mount a show from the permanent collection.
This one is pretty damn amazing to see. Plus they have some of the original publications from the time with images culled form the the book.
Plus there is another set of these prints traveling the US. Check this link for details.
Enough gushing, some of you may be saying “so what is so special about this book”
For one thing it’s the impressions of America in the 50’s by a young Swiss photographer, who traveled the country and came back with a slightly darker, sadder, and revealing portrait of a country than had been seen before.
With a forward by Jack Kerouac, this journey has survived and been reprinted many times through the years, including the current 50Th Anniversary edition from Steidl.
After seeing the images, Kerouac ” you end up finally not knowing any more whether a jukebox is sadder than a coffin ”
This new editions’ production was overseen by Robert Frank and actually has some changes from the first edition, including some re-cropped images.
One that needs to be in your collection, but first in your hands.

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Here is a little American we found at the museum.