Last week the 50th anniversary show for Robert Frank’s book, The Americans opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All original images from the book are on view through January 3rd.

Frank’s work, which often revealed the two opposing sides of American life—
that of the “Dream” and that of reality—was quite groundbreaking at a time when Rockwellian ideals prevailed. The book was widely rejected by the mainstream,
but is now credited as changing the way people looked at photography and how photographers looked at their subjects. His work lent a visual component to the ideas of the Beat Generation and gained the admiration of figures such as Jack Karouac and Alan Ginsberg.

Robert Frank, Elevator, Miami Beach, 1958

Robert Frank, Indianapolis, 1955-56

Robert Frank, Rodeo, New York City, 1954

These images were some of my favorites when I first began to study photography and they still captivate me today.