On board ship--Paris 34 by Robert Frank

On board ship--Paris 34 1959

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Dimensions: overall: 20.3 x 25.3 cm (8 x 9 15/16 in.)

Copyright: National Gallery of Art: CC0 1.0

Robert Frank’s film strip, *On board ship--Paris 34*, from around 1950, captures a journey, but it's also about the journey of artmaking itself. Look at how each frame is like a sketch, a quick grab at the world. The stark black and white—it's not about being pretty; it's about getting something raw, something real. The grainy texture reminds me that art is about process. It's not about perfection; it’s about what happens when you’re in the thick of it. In the middle strip, there’s a sequence of a table with what looks like salt and pepper shakers on it. Each frame is a slight shift, a tiny change in perspective. It’s like Frank is saying, “Look closer. What do you see when you really look?” Like the blurred figures in Gerhard Richter's paintings, it's less about the single image and more about the accumulation of moments, the feeling of time passing, and the search for meaning in the everyday. Art is a conversation, a dialogue across time, where nothing is ever really finished, just continued.

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