AFTER ROBERT FRANK’S PHOTOBOOK THE AMERICANS: REMAKES, VARIATIONS, AND ICONOCLASM

Abstract

Many contemporary artists’ publications pay tribute to famous artists’ books or photobooks, such as Ed Ruscha’s conceptual artist’s books or Robert Frank’s landmark photobook The Americans. This paper examines Mishka Henner’s version of Frank’s The Americans that he appropriated and partly erased. It questions the process of re-appropriation and studies Henner’s approach: is it a variation in Goodman’s term? Or a remake? It explores both the act of remaking a seminal work, as well as destroying it. It compares Henner’s work to other contemporary projects based on Frank’s book, by Jonathan Lewis, Michel Campeau, Andreas Schmidt, Andrew Emond, as well as Dafydd Hughes, and concludes that these various versions after a classic photobook is a means to be part of a tradition, to be part of what Leo Steinberg called “the glorious company”, as well as departing from its legacy.