Valencia, Spain 26/Black White and Things 8 1952

Robert Frank made this photographic work, Valencia, Spain 26/Black White and Things 8, using film and traditional darkroom processes. The materiality here is straightforward: celluloid, light-sensitive emulsion, the alchemy of the darkroom. What makes it compelling is Frank's engagement with the photographic process itself. You can see the sprocket holes of the 35mm film, and markings that were made to select certain images from the roll. The marks are blunt and casual – notations made in grease pencil. These are the gestures of a working photographer, a craftsman who has mastered his medium and is comfortable enough to treat it as a raw material. The final print becomes evidence of Frank's method, with its apparent disregard for the preciousness of the final image. It challenges any distinction between the fine art photograph and the working notes that enable its production.