San Yu--Paris 11

1958

“Les Américains” is published in Paris

Because his images depart from contemporary photographic standards, Frank has difficulty at first in securing an American publisher, and the book is first published in Paris by Robert Delpire in the Encyclopédie Essentielle series, with texts by Simone de Beauvoir, Erskine Caldwell, William Faulkner, Henry Miller and John Steinbeck positioned opposite the photographs.

1959

“The Americans” in the U.S.: harsh criticism

The book is finally published in the United States by Grove Press, without the texts but with Kerouac’s introduction, and initially receives substantial criticism: Popular Photography derides the images as meaningless blur, grain, muddy exposures, drunken horizons and general sloppiness. Sales are poor at first too, but the popular Kerouac’s introduction helps it reach a larger audience, and over time The Americans becomes a seminal work in American photography and art history, the work with which Frank is most clearly identified.

1961

First solo show at the Art Institute of Chicago

He receives his first individual show, Robert Frank: Photographer, at the Art Institute of Chicago.

1962

Show at the Museum of Modern Art

In 1962 he also shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.