In Anouk Masson Krantz's most expansive work to date, she travels tens of thousands of miles across the Americas, broadening her focus from the United States to both American continents. In her exquisite, large-scale photographs - all new for this book - Anouk captures sweeping landscapes and paints an intimate portrait of the enduring cross-boundary legacies of the North American cowboy, Central American vaquero, and South American gaucho. Her time spent at ranches and rodeos across The Americas has culminated in a magnificent book honouring a way of life many around the world dream of but rarely have experienced first-hand. Frontier builds upon Anouk's renowned body of work with her bestselling Wild Horses of Cumberland Island (2017); West: The American Cowboy (2019); American Cowboys (2021); and Ranchland (2022). Her stunning black and white, large-scale photographs capture a culture deeply rooted in principled, timeless values, sacrifice, strength, and self-reliance. From stunning panoramas to the intimate everyday lives of working cowboys and their families, Frontier is a must-have addition to her impressive body of work.
Bernie Taupin, Oscar winner, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and long-time song-writing collaborator with Elton John, has contributed an exceptional foreword.
"There's an honesty and integrity in these images that parlays all the elements of what it means to exist outside the boundaries of conformity and confinement. The rebel spirit, the rugged individualism, and the absolute unapologetic rhythm of history. This is stunning work--a true testament to the men and women who are the anvil on which America's backbone was forged." --Bernie Taupin
Gretel Ehrlich, best-selling and award-winning writer, poet, and essayist, has penned a fitting essay.
"So much has been made of the vanishing West, of "the last cowboy," of the museum-like vision of men and women who ride the range. They are often enshrined in movies and television series as if ranches had ceased to exist and cowboys and cowgirls had gone home to work in town. The opposite is true. In the long stretch of the Americas, from the tip of Argentina to the extreme north of Canada, and all through the United States, working cattle and sheep ranches continue on." --Gretel Ehrlich
Michael R. Grauer, known as 'Cowboy Mike', is the McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture and Curator of Cowboy Collections and Western Art at The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, and one of the most knowledgeable cowboy historians in the world.
"Today, thousands of rodeos of all kinds occur across the Americas. Yet the foundation of rodeo remains grounded in the work of cowboys, vaqueros, gauchos, drovers, and cowhands from the sixteenth century onward, and of the human on horseback symbolizing freedom and liberty. Cowboys of the Americas, from Canada to Argentina, still do their jobs every day, without fail and without thinking twice." --Michael Grauer
Anouk Masson Krantz is a French fine-art photographer and author based in NYC, best known for her American Western work.
Born and raised in France, she later moved to NYC in the late 1990's. After years of work in the luxury consumer industry, she left her role at Cartier's corporate office in New York City in 2003 to pursue photography. Krantz carefully selects projects that inspire as her works compel us to find solace and pause for a moment of peace and self-reflection. Her minimalistic, black and white large-scale contemporary photographs draw upon her refined eye to stir one's emotions and move the soul.
Krantz's photography has received worldwide acclaim as she has built a reputation as a leading visionary of cowboy photography of our times. Her success has influenced the recent resurgence of the Western genre in popular culture. Her books have become a global sales phenomenon and sat atop the bestseller lists for five years.
She has collaborated with Yellowstone series creator and director Taylor Sheridan, who wrote the foreword for her book American Cowboys in 2021 as well as with the legendary Bernie Taupin, known for writing Elton John's songs, who penned the foreword for her latest book FRONTIER: Cowboy of the Americas.
Krantz broke barriers as a woman from the outside. Since 2017, in her Western travels, she worked tirelessly to earn the trust and confidence of the ever private and discrete American ranching world. She gradually became known to the cowboy community and doors across the country opened. Over eight years, she has logged well over 125,000 miles by herself in her quest to reveal the authentic daily lives of the noble and virtuous American Cowboy.
"They would invite me into their homes, share meals and allowed me to ride among them. As we began to understand one another, I was accepted as one of them."
Over the past two years, Anouk has travelled further to explore the Western way of life across the Americas. Her recent works and new large-format 360-page artbook FRONTIER will be released on November 4th, 2024.
A limited slipcover edition as well as a limited leather collector's edition with a signed print will be released early 2025.
Her books, all published by Images Publishing/ACC Art Books, include:
Wild Horses of Cumberland Island (Nov 2017) (edition II // five reprints)
West: The American Cowboy (Nov 2019) (ten reprints)
American Cowboys (Nov 2021) - foreword by Taylor Sheridan (Nov 2021) (seven reprints)
Ranchland: Wagonhound - foreword by Gretel Ehrlich (Nov 2022) (two reprints)
Krantz's photographs have received accolades from the International Photography Awards and International Monochrome Awards. More recently she received the prestigious Wrangler Award at the 2023 Western Heritage Awards for her latest artbook Ranchland. Her work is displayed in prominent museums and private collections worldwide. In 2023, Cowboys & Indians named her "Trailblazer of the West" along with other western luminaries Lainey Wilson, Joanna Gaines and Quannah Chasinghorse. Krantz's work has been featured around the world in publications such as GQ, The Times, L'Oeil De La Photographie, Vanity Fair, Town & Country, Time, Harper's Bazaar, and Departures.
Anouk is an active supporter of several worthy causes including the American Cancer Society, the National Indigenous Women's Resouce Center and Build A Nest.
"The bestselling Western art book author in history." - TODAY SHOW, Read with Jenna I USA
"Wild West enthusiasts - and yes, Yellowstone fans ... gorgeous, black and white imagery of cowboys, ranchers, and their families in the land they love...." - Time I USA
Western Heritage Awards: Images from... "Real Yellowstone" ... - The Times I UK
These photographs and stories offer an inspiring new perspective of today's cowboy/ranching culture and land stewardship of the American West. - L'oeil De La Photographie I FRANCE
If you're a fan of Westerns, shows like Yellowstone or any Taylor Sheridan series, then you're going to love our next guest. In fact, she's Taylor Sheridan's favorite cowboy photographer. - FOX News I USA
Life on Wyoming's Wagonhound, as captured in an award-winning recent book, has changed surprisingly little since the days of the old west. - Wild West I USA
French photographer Anouk Masson Krantz has accomplished something that only few people have achieved before: she drove through the American West, immersed herself in the world of the cowboy, and became part of their culture. As her photographs so beautifully show. - RAMP I GERMANY
A collection of stunning photographs, offering an intimate glimpse in the daily life of these hard-working men and women. - Departures I USA
This book would make for a treasured gift. It embodies the "pioneering spirit" of this beautiful landscape. - Today I USA
The Big Book of cowboys. A tribute to the American cowboy through photography. - Western Art Collector I USA
Oversize ode to the American West. - New York Magazine I USA
Anouk Krantz's book American Cowboys presents a contemporary affirmation that our cowboy culture is not only alive but thriving. - Western Horseman I USA
Her quest was not to glorify well-known ranches or big-name cowboys but to show the hard work of the West and the people who do it. - Cowboys & Indians I USA
Anouk Krantz's newest collection of photography will stir the heart. Capturing the tough landscape of the American frontier, Krantz also manages to convey the human ? and animal ? spirit of the West through her black-and-white images. - The Week I USA
An intimate look at the big skies and cowboy spirit of the US heartland. - The Independent I UK
This 2021 collection of evocative photography will make you rethink America's heartland and what it means to be a cowboy or cowgirl. - Hearst I UK
Breathtaking images. - Town & Country I USA
Un luogo di pace, bellezza, silenzi, libro pieno di poesia. - Vanity Fair I IT
Captivating photos. - Time I USA
