From the bus 25B/Lines of My Hand 78 1958

Robert Frank made this gelatin silver print, From the bus 25B/Lines of My Hand 78, sometime during his life, and it feels like a collection of outtakes or a photographer's mood board. What strikes me most is how Frank embraces the imperfections, the graininess of the film, and the haphazard arrangement of the frames. It’s like a painter leaving their sketches and color swatches visible around a finished canvas. The texture is palpable, the film's grain almost feels like a tactile element. The monochromatic palette adds a timeless quality. There's a strip near the bottom where someone has drawn over a figure, adding a layer of personal intervention, like a painterly annotation. I find this so appealing; it acknowledges the act of looking and thinking about the image. It reminds me a bit of Gerhard Richter’s photo paintings, where the blur and imperfections of the photograph are embraced rather than concealed. Frank seems to invite us into his process, showing us the raw materials of his vision. It’s this willingness to embrace ambiguity that makes his work so compelling.