New York (AFP)

Swiss-born photographer Robert Frank, who is a photographic monument, died on Monday in Canada, the New York Times quoted his New York gallery owner Peter MacGill as saying on Tuesday.

Robert Frank became famous with his album "The Americans", released in France in 1958 and in the United States in 1959, a book of black and white shots from his travels across the United States, a real manifesto against the tradition that had to profoundly influence subsequent generations.

Contacted, the Pace / MacGill Gallery in Manhattan, who represents the photographer, did not immediately confirm the death, which occurred in Inverness, Nova Scotia, according to the New York daily.

Many photographers immediately paid tribute to the one who had often deeply influenced their eyes.

"Rest in peace, American genius," wrote Jerry Saltz, a New York magazine critic and Pulitzer Critics Prize winner. "He published + The Americans + in 1958. Changed the world".

Many recalled a phrase of the writer Jack Kerouac, who had prefaced "The Americans".

"With his little camera, which he raises and manipulates with one hand, he has drawn from America a sad poem, taking his place among the tragic poets of this world," wrote the author of "Sur the road "before adding:" To Robert Frank I send this message: you have eyes ".

"The Americans" was in line with the Beat Generation literary and artistic movement, where following the instinct prevails over the foundations of photojournalism techniques, where the photos are as if snapped up and no longer framed.

The book was freshly received, considered depressing and subversive, revealing the dark side of the "American dream": poverty, segregation, inequality and loneliness.

© 2019 AFP