イギリス人フォトグラファー、トニー・レイ・ジョーンズ（Tony Ray-Jones）が初期の未発表カラー写真をまとめた作品集。1961年にグラフィックアート専攻の奨学生としてアメリカへ渡り、Alexey Brodovitchに師事した作者が、当時友好関係にあったJoel Meyerowitzらに影響され、一般には浸透していなかったカラー写真に取り組み、モノクロ写真では表現出来ないような、熱気に溢れた「アメリカの色」を据えた作品が収録されている。

American Colour 1962–1965 is a carefully edited selection of previously unpublished Tony Ray-Jones colour photographs from the earliest period of his work. Taken from the extensive archives held at the National Media Museum in Bradford by Liz Jobey, this book brings together the early experiments that would inform his later work. Ray-Jones later referred to these early photographs as ‘isolated sketches’, and they were clearly a part of his formative experience. At the time colour was considered vulgar and not the medium of serious photography, but for Ray-Jones it expressed the excitement of America in a way that black and white could not. 'I found America a very colour-conscious country,' he said. 'Colour is very much part of their culture, and they use it in crazy ways. You look down Madison Avenue at lunchtime and the colours just vibrate.'