11th Street story 40 1951

Robert Frank captured this contact sheet, “11th Street story 40” with his camera at an unknown date. What strikes me is how immediate and process-driven it feels, like a painter's sketchbook laid bare. You see the individual frames, the raw material, the artist’s selections, all held together on one surface. Look at the contrast, the graininess, the tonal range of the black and white, it’s raw. The film strip itself becomes a physical object, punctuated by sprocket holes and handwritten numbers. I’m drawn to the repetition of certain images, figures and street scenes appearing multiple times. It is as if Frank is circling, zeroing in on something he wants to capture. This reminds me of the way Cy Twombly would create many drawings of the same motif, each iteration slightly different. Like Cy, Frank seems to show us the beauty that can be found in seriality, in the process of looking and seeing.