Cowboys IX 1954

Robert Frank created this black and white photograph, 'Cowboys IX,' as a series of frames on a film strip. I can almost feel Frank's presence, the camera held close, capturing these figures with a raw, unfiltered eye. In the darkroom, I imagine him wrestling with the images, selecting, cropping, and sequencing these frames like a painter arranging colors on a canvas. There's something about the way these cowboys are presented – fragmented and grainy – that speaks to a larger narrative about the myth of the American West. Are these cowboys real, or are they figures in a staged performance, a kind of theater? What does it mean to capture this iconic imagery through the lens of a camera? It reminds me of other image makers like Siskind and Warhol, who used seriality and repetition to explore popular culture. Like them, Frank reminds us that art is not just about representation, but about framing and perspective.