Family--New York City no number 1953

This is Robert Frank’s “Family--New York City no number,” a contact sheet. Frank, who died in 2019, was born in Switzerland and later moved to America, where he became known for his raw depictions of American life. Looking at this sheet, we see Frank working through images of a child, a young boy. The boy is at turns posed near a window, standing on a bed, or holding a large stick. The repetition and slight variations reveal Frank’s process, his eye searching for the right angle and light. Frank once said, “When people look at my pictures, I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of poetry twice.” In this spirit, we might consider the cultural context of family and childhood. What does it mean to grow up in New York City? What narratives of boyhood are being constructed and perhaps, challenged? This contact sheet invites us to reflect on the intimate moments of familial life, and the quiet acts of observation that shape our understanding of identity.