Robert Frank's 'The Americans' on View in Madrid for the First Time

The complete series 'The Americans' by Robert Frank is on display at Fundación Telefónica in Madrid until November 1, 2026. It is the first time the full set is shown in Spain. Only four complete sets exist worldwide, supervised by the artist. Frank, born in Zurich in 1924, moved to the US in 1947. In 1954 he obtained two Guggenheim Foundation grants to travel across the country and photograph postwar American society. He shot about 800 rolls of film (28,000 images) with a 35mm Leica, selecting 93 for the book. The series was initially met with hostility—called 'anti-American' and 'communist'—but later recognized as a critical portrait of the 1950s, anticipating civil rights movements and consumer culture. Frank's style favored 'in-between moments' over Cartier-Bresson's 'decisive moments', using tilted angles and blur. He was influenced by Walker Evans and the Beat Generation. The exhibition comes from the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris.