Guggenheim 451--Beverly Hills, California 1955 - 1956

This is a black and white photograph by Robert Frank, and it looks like a contact sheet of negatives, a collection of moments captured on film. The red circles drawn on the image are so interesting to me. I can imagine Frank out there in Beverly Hills, camera in hand, wandering around, a total fly on the wall. What might he have been thinking as he captured these glimpses of California life? I see a building, people milling about, cars from another era, each frame holding a fragment of a story. There is a sense of looking at a moment passing, like turning a page in a book, and he wants you to see what he saw. Thinking about his wider practice, Frank always seemed drawn to the gritty, raw edges of life. Other photographers like Garry Winogrand were also capturing street life with a similar kind of energy. It is this sharing of ideas that makes art so interesting, an ongoing conversation between artists across time.