Peru, page 9 1948

Robert Frank made this photograph titled ‘Peru, page 9’ at an unknown date using a gelatin silver print. There is a beautiful tonal range in this picture, from the stark white of the blank page, to the deep shades of grey in the clothing and the wall. There’s something painterly in the way Frank captures light; the way the faces are slightly blurred reminds me of Gerhard Richter's photo paintings. Look at the eyes of the children closest to the camera - they seem to hold a world of experience, a depth that belies their age. The textural quality of the print makes you feel like you could reach out and touch the rough fabric of their clothes. And the blank page: it feels like a space for possibility, a canvas for our own projections and interpretations. Frank, like many of the best photographers, reminds me of the work of painters like Édouard Vuillard, who was interested in the everyday. Their work teaches us that art is less about answers, and more about the questions we ask.