Guggenheim 467--"Man with the Golden Arm" premiere, Hollywood 1955

Robert Frank made this contact sheet for "Guggenheim 467--'Man with the Golden Arm' premiere, Hollywood," with photographs capturing the essence of the 1950s Hollywood scene. Look at the darks and lights. The high contrast gives the piece a certain nervous energy. Frank’s choice of stark black and white emphasizes the grit beneath the glitz, the shadows behind the flashbulbs. You can almost feel the graininess of the film, the immediacy of the moment. Note the way he’s circled certain frames, almost like a painter isolating the key elements of a composition. One frame, capturing a kiss, is especially poignant. It stands out, ringed with significance. It reminds me of Weegee's raw, unfiltered New York street photography. Both artists share a commitment to showing life as it is, not as we might wish it to be. Frank, like all great artists, invites us to see the world with new eyes, to embrace its complexities and contradictions, its beauty and its brutality.