Flower Is.

Tokyo, Yugensha / Kazuhiko Motomura, 1987. . First edition of 500 copies; folio (342 x 251 mm, 13½ x 10 in); black-and-white photographs printed in offset, design by Sugiura Kohei and Sato Atsushi, occasional light dust speckle marks spotted out by hand by Motomura; grey silk-covered boards, titles stamped in dark grey on spine and upper side, publisher's grey paper-covered board slipcase with titles stamped in dark grey on spine, original shipping carton, fine; [112]pp.su Flower Is contains three bodies of work: photographs taken in Paris of flowers, flower sellers, and chance encounters on the street, the River Rouge car factory in Detroit, and polaroids made in Mabou Mines, Nova Scotia. It is the second of three books Frank made with Motomura Kazuhiko, a collector of photographs and photography books and occasional publisher, each designed by Sugiura Kohei. 'By 1949 I had lived in New York City for two years. When I returned to Paris, I was 26. The beauty of that city touched me... Returning to America I began to look at Americans... and began to photograph the city and factory which produced the American car. The summer of 1955 was hot and after two days at the River Rouge Plant in Detroit I was told to leave the factory. I travelled south and was astonished to see black people treated as inferiors. I experienced the suspicion against anything not "American". I was learning about American determination to win... Flowers of Paris is memory... After the publication of The Americans in 1959, a slow fade begins. Filmmaking replaces the single frame photograph!' The Photobook: A History I, p264; Auer Collection p670.