Robert Frank: London/Wales [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)

~ Robert Frank (Author), Philip Brookman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

These remarkable pictures jump alive and insinuate themselves into our consciousness with qualities that later gained notoriety in "The Americans." -- New York Times Magazine, By W.S.Di Piero

Product Description

Between 1949 and 1953, Robert Frank continually returned to Europe from his new home in New York to take photographs in France, Switzerland, Spain, and Great Britain, photographs that show the development of his uniquely humanist, poetic, and realist eye. In 1951 and early 1952, Frank visited London--"I liked the light, I liked the fog."--and set out to photograph the unique atmosphere of the city. He followed British financiers around the City, capturing them in their traditional top hats and long coats, creating images that depict them in a poetic dance with their fog-shrouded environment. He shot pictures of workers, men delivering coal, children playing on the streets, people waiting or relaxing in the parks, and images of poverty. In these photographs he juxtaposed money and work, wealth and poverty, creating a dynamic photographic project that has never been shown before in its entirety. Then, in March 1953, before the impending nationalization of the country's coal mines, Frank travelled to the town of Careau, in Wales, to photograph the coal miners whose lives revolved around their work. One miner, Ben James, and his family became the subject of a picture essay (originally published in a 1955 issue of U.S. Camera) in which Frank downplayed the classic modernist photographic moment in favor of a more provocative form that offered informal, revealing glances rather than an official document.
In Robert Frank: London/Wales, Frank returns for the first time to these old negatives. The volume explores a stylistic transformation in his work, a period of development which saw his mode of photography move from an innovative romanticism to a highly charged, metaphorical realism. These two consecutive projects, realized in London and Wales between 1951 and 1953, set the stage for his truly groundbreaking documentary, The Americans, completed just a few years later.
You got eyes. --Jack Kerouac writing about photographer Robert Frank

Introduction by Philip Brookman.

Hardcover, 9 x 11 in., 208 pages, 90 Tritones illustrations

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Scalo Publishers; illustrated edition edition (June 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3908247675
• ISBN-13: 978-3908247678
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,292,602 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #99 in

  Books > Travel > Europe > Great Britain > Wales

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superbly presented and enthralling compilation, August 10, 2003

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

The collaborative effort of Scalo in collaboration with the Corcoran Gallery (Washington, D.C.), London/Wales is a photography collection 72 early 1950's tritone images taken by the famous and "museum-worthy" photographer Robert Frank. An informed and informative text is minimally present in this collection, which is primarily dedicated to showcasing the powerful still images of urban life and the people who lived in 1950s London, England and Careau, Wales. A superbly presented and enthralling compilation, London/Wales memorably illustrates the very essence of London and Wales and is a strongly recommended addition to professional, academic, and community library History of Photography collections.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Setting the Stage for "The Americans", July 29, 2003

By	Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Robert Frank's previously unpublished photographs of London and Wales from the early 1950s are a revelation. With insightful text from curator Philip Brookman, this book is a must-buy for casual fans and scholars alike. Having recently seen the exhibition of this work at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, I must say viewing the photographs first hand was a wonderful experience. Yes, the prints are often too gray and dark, the negatives poorly exposed, and some images slightly out of focus, but through this work we can see an evolving photographic style that reached perfection a few years later in the seminal book, "The Americans." And witnessing that transformation is what made the exhibit, and this book, so memorable and priceless.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Robert Frank: London/Wales, September 11, 2005

By	Brandon Thibodeaux - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's a nice book. Not quite like seeing them in person, but hey, what can you do.