Guggenheim 508--General Motors Motorama, Los Angeles 1956

This is Robert Frank’s contact sheet from the General Motors Motorama in Los Angeles. What a spread of moments captured on a single roll of film. I can imagine Frank thinking, "Okay, let’s see what we’ve got." Each frame offers a different way of seeing the manufactured spectacle, and of seeing how people interact with it. Look at the way Frank has circled certain frames—decisions being made, images being considered. You get a real sense of the artist at work. The filmstrip format reminds me of a storyboard for a film, each image a frame in a larger narrative. I love how he has preserved the integrity of the film strip, complete with sprocket holes and handwritten numbers. It’s like the skeleton of the image, what holds it all together. So interesting to see behind the scenes. It is so human, to make art, to capture a moment, to make choices.