When Robert Frank began his road trip across the United States in 1955, national patriotism was pulsing through the veins of communities from coast to coast. Just 10 years out from the end of World War II, with the hardships of the war years still fresh in people's minds, citizens displayed their American pride in offices, parades and public celebrations.
It is thus no surprise that the American flag is a recurring motif throughout The Americans, appearing in numerous images including Parade—Hoboken, New Jersey, the first plate in Frank's seminal 1958 publication. Taken during the city's bicentennial celebration, the photograph shows two figures watching the festivities from their windows as the flag hangs from the building façade between them.
Each of the 83 carefully selected images in The Americans highlights Frank's astute eye and deft skill for balancing perfect photographic composition with a sensitivity to the complexity of American society. But as a Swiss-born photographer who never shied away from documenting the underlying racial tension he witnessed, his work was initially misunderstood and its nuance overlooked. Of these images he wrote, 'I have been frequently accused of deliberately twisting subject matter to my point of view. Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love’ (U. S. Camera Annual, 1958).