Cowboys no number 1954

Robert Frank's 'Cowboys no number' is a series of photographs printed on Kodak safety film. I can imagine Frank shifting around, looking for the right angle, snapping away, trying to make sense of the world and his place in it. There is a stillness in each shot, which must be a kind of lie, as they are of course records of movement and activity in the street. But it also makes me think about the physicality of the medium. Each frame is grainy, the tones are muted, and the cowboys themselves seem like ghosts, or perhaps actors, and they are also playing a role. I wonder if Frank knew, when he shot these frames, that they would one day be seen like this, not as single shots, but as a complete set. I hope that Frank, wherever he is, knows that his work continues to inspire artists today. It is an ongoing conversation, a dialogue across time.