Guggenheim 444--New Year's Eve, Los Angeles 1955 - 1956

Robert Frank's photographic artwork captures New Year's Eve in Los Angeles, presented in a strip of frames reminiscent of a film reel. Within these frames, gatherings of people are seen celebrating, their forms shadowed and blurred, yet their revelry is palpable. The motif of the crowd is central here, echoing the ancient Dionysian festivals, where collective ecstasy blurred individual identity. In these earlier celebrations, frenzy was harnessed to access a deeper connection to nature and the divine. Frank's crowds, though secular, still hint at this primal need for communal experience. The human subconscious is drawn to the safety and anonymity found in groups. As celebrations transition through time and space, the symbols shift, but the underlying emotions of hope, release, and connection endure. Frank's composition resonates with a history of communal effervescence, a testament to the cyclical return of human rituals.