Building under construction--Early New York City no number c. early 1950s

This is Robert Frank’s "Building under construction--Early New York City no number," a gelatin silver print. It looks like outtakes from a shoot, contact sheets. I love this way of seeing a city, not one image, but many, and you can see the artist at work choosing which ones to keep. Look at the images, the contrast, the light, the textures of buildings going up, the street life. The grainy quality gives everything a palpable, almost touchable feel. See the one in the middle, with the sculpture? It gives you a sense of the time, the art world, a gallery. And right next to it, a couple looking up, almost in awe. Frank was always playing with the edge, like you see here, between high art and the everyday. It makes me think of Helen Levitt, another street photographer who captured New York with a similarly affectionate, raw eye. Both of them understood that art is not just about beauty, it's about life in all its messy, imperfect glory.