Critical & contextual perspectives.

Robert Frank's seminal work 'The Americans' shows a bleak view of the supposed American dream. The idea that American's at the time were living in some kind of utopia is something that he managed to squash with great aplomb. His grainy black & white photographs tell the story of day to day life in America, they were ground breaking at the time still hold up to this day. 'America was in the midst of a dramatic change under President Eisenhower. While some photographers were attempting to show American as one people, Frank and his friends saw something different. Their vision of America through art and poetry reflected “alienation, loneliness and spiritual desolation”, writes photography historian Robert Hirsch.' Trolley - New Orleans , 1955 - Robert Frank 'Trolley' (above) shows segregation among the races. Many of these races fought side by side in the war, yet they are still divided in almost every form of life 10 years later. 'Idian