Family and Aunt Frida--New York City no number 1954

Robert Frank made this contact sheet from a series of photographic negatives, probably in New York City, though the date is unknown. The range of images speaks to the process, the multiple attempts, and the accidental nature of photography. The high contrast images are like emotional snapshots. The textures vary from the grainy shadows of a crowded room to the clear, almost clinical, depiction of a woman and child. In one striking sequence, a woman and child sit, and there's a stark, unadorned quality to it. The sequence is almost scientific, but it allows us to observe the intimate relationship between the two figures, as if we are seeing the subtle shifts in their connection. Frank’s willingness to embrace the imperfect, the accidental, aligns him with the ethos of artists like the painter Helen Frankenthaler, who allowed the unpredictable flow of paint to guide her compositions. Like all art, this work is about making choices, and each choice is about seeing something in the world.