Was haben wir gesehen / What we have seen

Yet another precious volume in his celebrated series of visual diaries, Was haben wir gesehen / What we have seen is all about people and places in the long and very convivial life of Robert Frank. Auspiciously 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 heavy 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 hideaway for people like Jack Kerouac, Gerhard Steidl, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and his family members. Frank’s visual diaries constitute an important part of both his later work and the ongoing art of the photobook.