Platte River, Tennessee 1961

Robert Frank snapped this photograph, Platte River, Tennessee, at an unknown date, using his camera like a divining rod, feeling for meaning in the everyday. The whole image is cast in shades of gray, a kind of somber, but somehow the rough texture of the field, the indistinct horizon, it all contributes to a palpable mood. Frank's masterful use of light and shadow gives the scene a tactile quality. Look at the figure in the foreground, a man in a suit and hat. We don't see his face, but his posture, facing away from us, towards the field and a lone cow, suggests contemplation, maybe even a little despair. Frank’s photograph reminds me a little of Walker Evans, another artist who found beauty and truth in the mundane. But where Evans is often cool and detached, Frank is raw, visceral, capturing America with a bleaker, more personal vision. It's a testament to the power of art to find poetry in the ordinary, and to remind us that sometimes, the most profound stories are the ones that are left untold.