Flower vendor--Reno or Elko, Nevada 1956

Robert Frank made this photograph, Flower vendor, in Reno or Elko, Nevada, and he did it with light, time, and feeling. It's a gray, gritty world, softened by the blooms for sale. The photo has a very strong diagonal sweep across the frame, it splits the picture, almost like a stage set. One side is bright, with the hand offering payment; the other is dark, with the hulking car in the background. The texture of the silver gelatin print gives it a grainy quality, which creates a sense of immediacy, like a snapshot. There's something very touching and beautiful in that contrast between dark and light, money and flowers, old and new. Frank worked a lot in series, and this picture shares something with all of his work. I'm thinking of the way Philip Guston built up his paintings through simple gestures. Both Frank and Guston show that sometimes the most powerful art comes from embracing ambiguity and the messiness of life.