Inside front cover--40 Fotos c. 1946

This piece, the inside front cover of ’40 Fotos’ by Robert Frank, well, it’s mostly blank space with a signature and title. What’s interesting to me is the raw quality of the signature. It’s like a gesture, quick and a bit messy, which is something that connects with his overall aesthetic. There’s a definite materiality to this piece, even if it is a blank space. It’s a physical object, paper with ink on it, and that’s important. The texture of the paper, the slight bleed of the ink, these are all details that give it a sense of authenticity. I keep thinking about how the image anticipates the images within the book, it prepares you to be aware of these '40 Fotos' to come. The paper's surface, almost untouched, emphasizes the artist's signature and the title's boldness, setting the stage for the images to follow. Frank’s work reminds me a lot of the kind of emotionally raw, unpolished quality you see in Nan Goldin’s photographs. They both capture real life with a kind of brutal honesty. They invite us to see the world differently.