Robert Frank was the author of the legendary book The Americans, which was published in 1958 by Robert Delpire and which initially went unnoticed: But several years before this masterpiece – now considered the benchmark in street photography – the photographer, who died in 2019, crafted a brilliant little book for his beloved. Part intimate chronicle, part love letter, Mary’s Book is now the subject of a richly detailed publication, thanks to the loyal Delpire publishing house. A modest scrapbook of a dozen pages, it tells the story of a budding romance and of the emergence of a great talent.
After leaving his native Switzerland to discover the United States, Frank met Mary Lockspeiser during the summer of 1948 through a mutual friend, a poet. He was approaching his 24th birthday. The young Anglo-American was 15; she was learning dance with Martha Graham, as well as painting and sculpture. They married in 1950 and had two children before divorcing 20 years later. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
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