Robert Frank’s photo-book The Americans is the most famous book of its kind and the work for which this photographer and filmmaker is most celebrated. Published in 1958 it is a selection from over 28,000 pictures taken by Frank between 1955 and 1957 as he traveled around the country.  It was not well-received initially as it was viewed as haphazard and random, the photographs not following the established norms of art photography of the day which was very studied and formal.  Singled out as a specific example of what was wrong with the book was the image of the ‘girl in the elevator’;

The photograph was criticised for being out of focus and looking like a quick snap-shot.  In fact the construction of the picture draws the viewer’s attention to the girl herself.  She is the lift operator and as such would normally be ignored by those using it.  This picture makes her the main focus.  She is in the centre and those around her are merely background – superfluous to the main image.  The girl looks sad or at least thoughtful and the viewer immediately wonders what she is thinking.  It is reminiscent of the Edward Hopper painting New York Movie (1939) which evokes the same reaction.

For me the photographs in this book are very like the photographic equivalent of Hopper’s paintings. Hopper painted ordinary people in ordinary moments of ordinary lives – Frank photographed them.  In describing his book Frank wrote “Black and White are the colors of photography.  To me they symbolize the alternatives of hope and despair to which mankind is forever subjected.”  Frank’s black and white photographs are the documentaries of real life to Hopper’s stories – of real life.