Paris 72B 1951 - 1952

Robert Frank made this contact sheet, Paris 72B, sometime in the twentieth century, using photography. What's so great about this piece is the artist's mark-making. I mean, we're so used to photographs being pristine, perfect images, and here Frank has gone and marked all over the contact sheet with these blue crayon marks, like notations, or a personal code. It's got a real tactile quality, like he was physically wrestling with the image, trying to pull something out of it. Look at the way he's circled certain frames, almost obsessively, drawing us in. It’s kind of like a painter attacking a canvas, or maybe a sculptor carving into stone. It reminds me a little of Cy Twombly's scribbles, but instead of paint, Frank's using this casual, almost careless, approach to the surface of the photograph. And in doing so, he's showing us that photography isn't just about capturing reality, but about manipulating and interpreting it, too. It’s the choices Frank made which elevate it into a unique artwork.