Robert Frank: What We Have Seen

Yet another superb volume in the photographer’s popular series of visual diaries, What We Have Seen is all about people and places in the long and convivial life of Robert Frank (born 1924). Opening and closing with the zoom on the dial of a clock tower, serving as a reminder of the silent but constant passage of time, the book is laden with memories and pictures of old photographs. Like a leitmotif carrying us through the images, the word "souvenir" pops up under a magnifying glass positioned on a French text as a reading device. Frank’s house in Mabou is once again portrayed as a popular retreat for people such as Jack Kerouac, Gerhard Steidl, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs and Frank’s family members. As ever, Frank’s visual diaries constitute an important part of both his later work and developments in the ongoing art of the photobook.