Boys smoking cigars--Alabama 1955

Curator: I'm struck by how timeless this feels. The casual grouping, the shared ritual—it could be yesterday, but the light tells a different story. Editor: That's the deceptive power of Robert Frank's "Boys Smoking Cigars--Alabama," taken in 1955. Frank, of course, became known for capturing off-kilter slices of American life, and this gelatin-silver print is no exception. It's part of his pivotal work, *The Americans.* Curator: Off-kilter is right. There's such a tension between the innocence of boyhood and this… very adult act of smoking. It's almost a miniature stage drama, unfolding right there on the street. Editor: It's definitely meant to unsettle. Look at the backdrop, a seemingly ordinary street scene but presented in this raw, unvarnished way. Frank was very deliberate in turning away from the picture-perfect images that dominated magazines at the time. He wanted to show America's underbelly. Curator: The way the light hits the boy's face, especially the smoker. There's a vulnerability there, despite the bravado. I wonder, were they self-conscious, being photographed? Editor: Possibly. Frank's work was controversial, because he was capturing a reality that many Americans didn't want to acknowledge or that didn't necessarily fit with popular perception of an era. The backdrop to this work underscores the everyday reality where these boys grow, within a town in the State of Alabama. He’s questioning social norms, isn’t he? Curator: Absolutely. It makes you consider the pressures, the performance of identity, especially for young boys coming of age in that era. It makes me think about the strange freedom and constrictions of those times. This photograph becomes more complex the longer I gaze upon the image. Editor: It invites close looking for sure. Frank saw something poignant, even unsettling, in this casual street corner tableau, and, like so many images of its kind, this work helps us consider who was visible and valued. The politics of the gaze matter so much, even now. Curator: Looking again, the texture in the boy’s flannel and that plume of smoke hanging in the light. Even these granular details seem saturated with story. This image invites us to examine ourselves, to question what we consider innocent. Editor: Agreed. Frank’s work challenged its time, and its capacity to provoke thoughtfulness clearly continues today.